Former CNN pundit Jeffery Lord said CNN’s decision to fire him Thursday was “wrong,” adding that his firing “proved his point” that the network has limited free speech.
CNN abruptly severed ties with the 61-year-old Lord after he tweeted “Sieg Heil!” at a liberal activist on Twitter.
Lord, a columnist for conservative magazine The American Spectator, tweeted the Nazi victory salute at Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal group Media Matters for America.
Lord was defending fellow conservative Sean Hannity against Media Matters, which launched a campaign in July to create public pressure to fire Hannity over his coverage of the Seth Rich murder conspiracy theory, by listing his Fox New advertisers.
“Nazi salutes are indefensible,” a CNN spokesperson said, according to the network. “Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.”
{mosads}Lord said in an interview with The Hill that he would use the Nazi salute again, even if he knew ahead of time that it would lead to his ouster.
“I have no hesitation about this [using a Nazi salute]. If I had known this was going to end up like this, I would have done it again,” he said from his Pennsylvania home on Friday. “You have to go after these people [Media Matters]. This is not allowable under any circumstances.”
“I love the people at CNN,” he continued. “They were terrific with me. I like [CNN President] Jeff Zucker a lot. I have enormous respect for him.
“But this is not about personality. This is about a serious issue here about the First Amendment, free speech and people going after people to get them off the air. I disagree with CNN on this completely. I think they’re wrong, and I think they proved my point. By doing what they did, they caved.”
Lord said a local reporter from the Harrisburg Patriot News came to his house on Thursday night after news broke of his firing for an interview. During the interview, Lord said he got a call on his landline — the caller ID showed the caller was none other than White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon.
“I burst out laughing, said, ‘You know, I think I have to take this call,’ ” Lord said. “I told the reporter she had my permission to share the [Bannon calling] story.”
Lord does many of his guest spots via Skype in Pennsylvania near Harrisburg because he is taking care of his 98-year-old mother, who can no longer walk. When Lord does travel to the CNN office in New York, he has the caretaker service “Visiting Angels” look after her.
Lord said he received word of his ouster while in a CNN-provided car traveling to New York.
He said he didn’t receive the call saying he was fired by Zucker, but by Rebecca Cutler, whom he describes as Zucker’s “right hand” in charge of “herding contributors” like himself.
While Lord has heard from Bannon, he hasn’t heard from President Trump, nor does he expect a call.
“In all candor, I think he’s busy,” said Lord. “I may have my situation, but it doesn’t involve nuclear weapons, thank God.”
As for what’s next in his career, Lord said he’s in talks with two national networks and entertaining a book deal. And he has no ill will toward CNN, which signed him in 2015 not long after Trump announced his candidacy.
“Good bye, and I love you,” Lord said as his final word to CNN. “We just disagree.”