Rick Santorum gives CNN credit after being fired: 'I have no animus at all toward CNN'

Former Republican senator and CNN commentator Rick Santorum appeared on Hannity Monday night where he spoke about being fired by CNN. Following a speech last month, Santorum garnered fierce backlash for disparaging remarks he made about Native Americans, saying that “there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” Rather than taking a combative stance against CNN, Santorum actually gave the network credit for keeping him as long as they did.

“I was at CNN for four and a half years, and you know, literally from the time I started, there were groups out there calling for me to be fired,” Santorum said. “So in some respects, I give CNN credit for holding on four and a half years in spite of some of the things I said defending President Trump and saying other things about what conservatives believe, and they gave me the opportunity to say it.”

But Santorum was much less conciliatory when it came to “the left,” claiming that intolerance and cancel culture are to blame for his firing. This, despite his own party recently voting Rep. Liz Cheney out of her leadership role for rebuking former President Trump, and GOP legislatures around the country voting to censure members of their own party for voting to impeach the former president.

“I think it does show that the left is intolerant,” Santorum said. “They are worried, I'm sure, that their viewership, which is very left, was — they were gonna pay a price. And the intolerance of the left is really the issue here, and the cancel culture that is flowing from it.”