on shows like American Morning and Anderson Cooper 360° and took viewers' live calls during special editions of Your Money and during his weekly call-in radio show. Until leaving CNN, Velshi co-hosted the market opening edition of World Business Today on CNN International. Being Muslim, Velshi regularly acknowledges his background and perspective when discussions involve Islam. Velshi has strongly defended the Muslim community's right to build a mosque and Islamic center (Park51) near Ground Zero in New York City. Velshi has also been critical of Peter King's hearings on Islamic radicalization in the United States as a form of Islamophobia, branding King as "naive". Velshi supports the separation of mosque and state and rejects "Political Islam", which requires the implementation of Sharia law. He has been in turn accused of downplaying the role that mainstream Islamic jurisprudence, scholarship, and interpretation play in the development and application of Islamic extremism and branding negative statements about Islam as biased. Al Jazeera America On April 4, 2013, it was announced that Velshi would be leaving CNN to join Al Jazeera America to host a weekly 30-minute magazine-style prime-time program called Real Money with Ali Velshi. He was the first on-air personality to be hired for the new channel. The channel stated that it hoped that Velshi's show would initially start off as a weekly show and become a daily show by the end of the year. Real Money with Ali Velshi launched on August 20, 2013, as a daily weekday show. On May 12, 2015, the show relaunched as Ali Velshi on Target. This show ended in April 2016 when Al Jazeera America shut down. MSNBC and NBC Velshi joined MSNBC in October 2016, with additional duties at MSNBC's parent news division, NBC News, for which he serves as Business Correspondent. Velshi initially co-anchored the 1:00 PM ET MSNBC news program Velshi & Ruhle with Stephanie Ruhle, as well as having his own 3:00 PM ET news program MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi. Velshi was also appointed as the fill-in host of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on Friday edition. However, in December 2019, Velshi was moved to weekend mornings with his own show called simply Velshi, a 2-hour solo act. He continues to substitute for other hosts in the weekday evening lineups. Writings Velshi is represented by the New York literary agency N.S. Bienstock and by speaking agency Greater Talent Network.