Muslim Congressman and former Nation of Islam spokesperson Keith Ellison must have been advised to distance himself from the Council on American Islamic Relations: First Muslim Congressman Won’t Address Muslim Group After All. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

(CNSNews.com) - Congressman-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, will not address a meeting of a controversial Islamic organization Saturday even though the group has been advertising since the election that he would be the keynote speaker.

The Council on American Islamic Relations announced Nov. 9 that Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, would be the keynote speaker at the group’s annual banquet on Nov. 18.The announcement also revealed that the speaker lineup is to include Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings and Albert Wynn, both of Maryland, and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

However, Bridget Cusick, a spokeswoman for Ellison, told Cybercast News Service Wednesday that Ellison had never accepted the group’s invitation and was never scheduled to appear at the banquet.

“We have four events in the state that day and they’ve been on the calendar for a long time,” she said. “The invitation was extended to us and somewhere in translation between our scheduler and the conversation that had happened about it with someone else, there was just a miscommunication.”

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, told Cybercast News Service that Ellison was still listed on the banquet schedule because he would address the group through a videotaped message.

Cusick said she was unaware of the videotaped appearance. “He’s been in D.C. all week, and I’ve been back here, so if that conversation happened, I’m unaware of it,” she said of Ellison, who has been in the nation’s capital for freshman orientation. “I’m certainly not saying it’s not true, but it is something I’m unaware of.”