International news correspondent Jim Clancy announced Friday he is parting ways with CNN, his exit from the news agency coming just days after he tweeted a series of eyebrow-raising comments aimed at pro-Israel activists.
“Clancy is no longer with CNN. We thank him for more than three decades of distinguished service, and wish him nothing but the best,” CNN confirmed in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Clancy said Friday in an email addressed to his colleagues: “After nearly 34 years with Cable News Network, the time has come to say Farewell! It has been my honor to work alongside all of you for all of these years.”
“This is one of the greatest news organizations in the world. It has truly revolutionized information delivery while driving technological advances in how we gather the news. Through it all, CNN has been a family to my own family. That means something. As I reflect on all of the great adventures and achievements of the past, I wish you great success in the future,” the email added, which was first obtained by TVNewser.
Following last week’s deadly terrorist attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Clancy clashed with several Twitter users over whether the magazine’s controversial cartoons had actually slandered Islam and Muhammad.
“The cartoons NEVER mocked the Prophet. They mocked how the COWARDS tried to distort his word. Pay attention,” Clancy wrote.
His Twitter feed then devolved into bitter fighting with several pro-Israel users after Oren Kessler of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies pushed back on Clancy’s original Charlie Hebdo-related notes, the now-ousted CNN correspondent at point referring to his critics as “hasbara” activists.
“Get a grip, junior. It’s my Friday night. You and the Hasbara team need to pick on some cripple on the edge of the herd,” he tweeted to one Twitter user.
Clancy’s online remarks were not at all well received and the longtime CNN correspondents eventually deactivated his Twitter account entirely this week.
The likely Islamic terrorist attack last week on Charlie Hebdo, which many believe were in retaliation for the magazine’s repeated mocking of Islam and Muhammad, claimed the lives of 10 journalists and two police officers.
