CNN has dropped Reza Aslan from its lineup, following a weekend tweet by Aslan comparing President Donald Trump to human waste.
Editor’s note: The original tweet is included at the bottom of this post, warning there is graphic language.
Aslan, who is also a professor of creative writing at UC Riverside, hosts the CNN series “Believer,” which looks at world religions.
He had apologized for the controversial tweet, saying he had let his emotions get the best of him. He was responding to the president’s tweets in the wake of the terrorist attack in London last week.
In a statement, CNN said it had “decided to not move forward with production on the acquired series ‘Believer with Reza Aslan. We wish Reza and his production team all the best.”
On his Twitter account, Aslan said he was sorry to be leaving the network.
“Obviously, I’m very disappointed in this decision,” Aslan posted, adding that he recognized his comments may have impacted CNN’s efforts at being an unbiased news source. “I am not a journalist. I am a social commentator and scholar. And so I agree with CNN that it is best that we part ways.”
Reza Aslan✔@rezaaslan
My statement about the cancellation of #Believer
When it comes to remarks on Twitter, this is not the first time that Azlan has used that particular word.
A spokesman with UCR said the university had no comment.
