Jeffrey Lord is out at CNN.
The cable network cut ties with one of its most controversial pro-Trump pundits on Thursday, hours after Lord tweeted the words “Sieg Heil!” at a well-known liberal activist, CNN said.
“Nazi salutes are indefensible,” a CNN spokesperson said, according to the network. “Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.”
Lord has repeatedly clashed with Angelo Carusone, who is president of the liberal group Media Matters for America. The pair argued this week about Media Matters’ past financial support from George Soros, and Lord wrote about the dispute in his column for The American Spectator, where he called Carusone’s group the “Media Matters Fascists.”
When Lord tweeted the column at Carusone, the activist told Lord his headline had a mistake in it (Media Matters would have to be abbreviated MMF for Lord’s “fascists” nickname instead of the correct abbreviation, MMFA). “Why do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you don’t take yourself seriously,” Carusone tweeted.
Lord’s response was “Sieg Hiel!”
Sieg Heil!
— Jeffrey Lord (@realJeffreyLord) August 10, 2017
After tweeting the Nazi solute, Lord insisted that he was actually “opposing Nazis and Fascists” by calling out Carusone and his group, who he accused of stifling Fox host Sean Hannity’s free speech. Media Matters has been encouraging advertisers to boycott Hannity’s show.
Lord appeared to respond to the controversy around his tweet on Thursday afternoon, tweeting out a simple “LOL!”
LOL!
— Jeffrey Lord (@realJeffreyLord) August 10, 2017