Reporter Reza Aslan hosted a show for CNN back in 2017 called “Believers” and ended up with a cannibal group who fed him human brain. The Hindu sect of the Aghori nomads he visited placed a necklace of human body parts on his head and had human ashes smeared on his face.
- Members of the sect weren’t very hospitable. At one point in the episode, one of the Aghori told Aslan he’d “cut off his head if he keeps talking so much.” He then began throwing his own poo at Aslan and the crew, which forced filming to wrap.
- Reza Aslan did get in the cannibal spirit. When offered the brain, Aslan didn’t feel he could refuse. “Want to know what a dead guy’s brain tastes like? Charcoal. It was burnt to a crisp!” he wrote on Facebook before the episode aired.
- The episode didn’t go over well with many critics. CNN was accused of painting Hinduism in a negative light and potentially increasing hatred toward the group. “It is unbelievably callous and reckless of CNN to be pushing sensational and grotesque images of bearded brown men and their morbid and deathly religion at a time when the United States is living through a period of unprecedented concern and fear,” Vamsee Juluri wrote for the Huffington Post.
- Instead of being educational, “Believers” turned into something completely different. CNN could have used the opportunity to create a layer of understanding of different groups of people and their ways of life. However, instead, they used it for shock value and may have caused much more harm than good. Needless to say, many people weren’t very happy with it. Nevertheless, for those who think a bit more deeply, it’s an illuminating look at a culture not many know exists. That’s fascinating to witness, for sure.
