By CNN recently dropped Reza Aslan’s highly popular CNN show, “Believer.”
The show was dropped following a tweet Aslan wrote in which he called President Trump “a piece of sh**t,” after Trump reiterated his call for a Muslim travel ban after the terror attacks in London.
Aslan is a Muslim American religious scholar and social commentator.
In light of the show’s cancellation, Aslan told Deadline, “I regret the particular words that I used, the profanity, but I don’t regret the sentiment.”
Aslan has never been shy about sharing his opinions, whether it’s through heated televisions debates on networks like Fox News and CNN or to his 253,000 twitter followers.
The show’s cancellation came while Aslan and his team were shooting its second season.
Despite the cancellation, the first season’s episodes of Believer was a hit, leading to explore and connect with different religious groups.
“I understand where CNN is coming from, they’re in a bind. They are first and foremost a news organization, and they have made this very bold, and in my opinion smart, decision to expand their offerings to include these kinds of original series led by these unique voices,” Aslan said to Deadline.
CNN has tried to maintain its status as an unbiased news organization, and Aslan’s comments were seen as too politically charged and provocative for the host of a CNN Show.
Despite the cancellation, the first season’s episodes of Believer was a hit, leading to explore and connect with different religious groups. He traveled to Hawaii to meet the leader of an apocalyptic cult named Jezus, to India to meet a minority and cannibalistic sect of Hinduism called the Aghori and to Los Angeles to explore the Church of Scientology.
Aslan hoped that the show would be informative and educational, but that it would also break down misconceptions and prejudices some viewers may have about other groups and reveal similarities with people they otherwise thought were different.
Since the show’s cancellation, Aslan has reached out to different networks to continue the show elsewhere.