Veteran CNN news anchor Jim Clancy left the network news agency Friday after 34 years of service, following a bizarre anti-Israel tirade on Twitter. CNN confirmed the Clancy’s leave.
Neither Clancy nor the news network gave an explanation for the move. Clancy reportedly informed colleagues of his decision via email, saying merely, “After nearly 34 years with Cable News Network, the time has come to say Farewell!”
In a statement by a CNN spokesperson, the network said only, “Jim Clancy is no longer with CNN. We thank him for more than three decades of distinguished service, and wish him nothing but the best.”
Following the Charlie Hebdo murders, Clancy went on a Twitter rant, in which he accused anyone who tried to correct his misinformation of “hasbara” (pro-Israel PR), which he also equated with being anti-Muslim. In many cases, he blocked those followers from his Twitter account.
It began with a statement that:
However, as other Tweeters were quick to point out, this is not accurate, as Charlie Hebdo had been targeted before.
“Absolutely untrue. The magazine was targeted in the past over an issue in which Muhammad was listed as guest editor,” Oren Kessler, a deputy director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote. Clancy responded with a single word: “hasbara?”
Clancy lumped all his critics together as being pro-Israel, a particularly ironic claim, as at least one account he mentioned, JewsMakingNews, is actually virulently anti-Semitic.
It was a comment about “cripples”, though, that may have been his ultimate undoing. Clancy told the Twitter account for Human Rights News, “You and the Hasbara team need to pick on some cripple at the edge of the herd.” These words drew much ire, including that of Jay Ruderman, the head of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which advocates for greater integration of people suffering with disabilities.
Ruderman demanded an apology from Clancy, who responded by blocking Ruderman from his Twitter feed. Undeterred, Ruderman complained to CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker. By Thursday, Clancy’s Twitter account appeared to have been disabled entirely.
