CNN admonished then banned a right-wing guest following a comment about a Muslim journalist’s pager going “off.”
During a heated discussion about tensions in the Middle East, native New Yorker Ryan Girdusky told Muslim commentator Mehdi Hasan that he hopes his “beeper doesn’t go off” after Hasan expressed support for Palestinians affected by Israel’s ongoing conflict with militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.
Several people died and thousands were wounded in September when pagers belonging to members of Hezbollah were hacked and blown up by Israeli intelligence forces.
Girdusky to Hasan: I hope your beeper doesn’t go off pic.twitter.com/YmHhYnkDZ3
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2024
Girdusky’s incendiary comment was immediately pounced on during Monday night’s “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip.”
“Did your guest just say I should be killed on live TV?” Hasan asked the show’s host.
Girdusky backpedaled by claiming he thought Hasan was advocating for terrorism.
The program cut to a break with panelists still talking over one another, then returned with Girdusky and Hasan no longer on set.
“There was a line that was crossed there and it’s not acceptable to me,” Phillip explained. “It’s not acceptable to us at this network.”
She later said on social media that Girdusky was asked to leave, while Hasan chose not to continue Monday’s show but is welcome to visit again.
Sharing @CNN’s statement and a quick message from me about what happened on tonight’s show.
I take this very seriously and want to again apologize to @mehdirhasan and I hope he’ll join us another time. pic.twitter.com/O9l0Ftv5NZ
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) October 29, 2024
CNN later denounced bigotry in a statement promising Girdusky “will not be welcomed back at our network.”
Girdusky responded on X that him equating Hasan’s support for Palestinians to support for Hezbollah terrorists was “a joke.”
He also complained that people who compare Republicans to Nazis are given greater leeway than those who share his point of view.