CNN SHOCK
Moment CNN panelist Ryan Girdusky tells Muslim guest ‘I hope your beeper doesn’t go off’ before being kicked off show
The network was forced to apologize for the shocking comments
A CNN panelist was quickly kicked off the show last night after telling a Muslim commentator "I hope your beeper doesn't go off".
Ryan Girdusky was discussing Donald Trump's controversial rally in New York when he hurled the disturbing remark at fellow commentator Mehdi Hasan.
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The pair were speaking in a roundtable discussion on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, during which 1776 Project founder Girdusky claimed "the media" has called "everyone who attended" Trump's rally "Hitler" and "a fascist," and came out in support of the former president.
Phillip interrupted him, insisting: "That did not happen."
She was followed by Hasan, who condemned the comments made by speakers at the rally like comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who dubbed Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage".
"My problem is, I get it, nobody wants to be called Nazis. It's very inflammatory," Hasan said, before adding, "if you don't want to be called Nazis, stop".
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Girdusky fired back: "You've been called an anti-Semite more than anyone at this table," to which Hasan said, "By people like you ... I'm in support of the Palestinians, I'm used to it."
Girdusky rejected that he had ever called Hasan, who is Muslim and of Indian descent, an anti-Semite, before adding: "Yeah, well, I hope your beeper doesn't go off."
Hasan has been an avid critic of Israel's military response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
Girdusky's comments appeared to be in reference to a deadly attack involving booby-trapped pagers against Hezbollah in September.
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Israel's Mossad spy agency allegedly planted a small amount of explosives inside thousands of pagers ordered by Hezbollah months earlier, a Lebanese security source and a second source told Reuters.
The pagers were said to be a "new brand" that the terrorists had not used before.
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The strike is understood to have killed dozens of people, with thousands of others injured.
Girdusky later apologized for the apparent reference, but was quickly removed from the conversation after a commercial break.
Hasan was also later absent from the panel.
Phillip told viewers soon after that she wanted "to apologize to Mehdi Hasan" and insisted the comment by Girdusky "was completely unacceptable."
"There is a line that was crossed there, and it's not acceptable to me," she told viewers.
"It's not acceptable to us at this network.
"We want discussion. We want people who disagree with each other to talk to each other, but when you cross the line of a complete lack of civility, that is not going to happen here on this show."
Phillip went on to say in a video shared on X that CNN had not told Hasan to leave, adding she hopes he "joins us again soon."
CNN also released a statement after the incident, which read: “There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air.
“We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate including between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding.
"But we will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed. Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.”
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Speaking on X afterwards, Girdusky said: "You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have taken money from Qatar-funded media.
"Apparently you can't go on CNN if you make a joke. I'm glad America gets to see what CNN stands for."
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