Jeffrey Lord Says CNN Misinterpreted Nazi Tweet That Led To His Firing

After CNN fired commentator Jeffrey Lord on Thursday following his tweet containing the words “Sieg Heil!” — the infamous Nazi salute — the pro-Trump pundit opened up about the incident stating that the network had misinterpreted his tweet.

Hours after CNN sacked Lord citing the reason, "Nazi salutes are indefensible," he told Vox reporter Jeff Stein the network had actually misinterpreted his tweet as being pro-Nazi. Lord said he meant to mock Media Matters by claiming they have adopted the same “anti-free speech” tactics that ruthless leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini had used a century ago.

“I was saying they were fascists modeling themselves after Nazis,” Lord said. He further clarified that he made the comment after he found out about strategic planning by Media Matters to get advertisers to stop sponsoring Fox News anchor Sean Hannity.

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“This came out of the roots of socialism — Mussolini was anti-capitalism. I was reading this stuff and making notes, and then I saw what was happening with Sean Hannity, which matched perfectly what I was reading,” Lord said. “And I just thought, ‘This is a perfect description of what happens when they take over the media.’”

Lord said he was reading a book about the history of Italian fascism in the 1930s that led him to draw a comparison between Media Matters and the fascists. It was also apparently something that prompted him to send out the mock Nazi salute in response to a tweet by Media Matters chief Angelo Carusone.

Even after CNN cut ties with Lord, he kept on insisting that Carusone was the main culprit and he was just “mocking a fascist.” Before he sent out a tweet with a Nazi salute, Lord attacked Carusone in the American Spectator, describing members of the entire organization run by the latter as “anti-free-speech bigots who, in typical fascist style, make it their mission to shut down speech they don’t like.”

Lord also took to Twitter to do damage control after he was relieved from his usual spot on CNN. In a series of tweets, mostly directed at CNN news anchor Jake Tapper, Lord reiterated time and again that he will never tolerate someone displaying fascist behavior.

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Twitterati rejoiced CNN's decision of firing Lord from his stint.

CNN contributor Ana Navarro, in this context, tweeted three topics to avoid talking about when one is a television personality — Nazis, rape, and Martin Luther King.

However, Lord has been known to refer to a number of controversial topics. According to Business Insider, he once called President Donald Trump "the Martin Luther King of healthcare.” He also said Trump calling Mexicans “bad hombre” was not as bad as the N-word. He also once asked an African-American panelist to apologize for slavery.

In addition to CNN, Fox News, NBC, and MSNBC also announced they would never hire Lord for any panel discussions in the future.