NEW YORK (AP) — CNN has announced that conservative writer Ryan Gidursky is no longer welcome on their network following a heated on-air confrontation with panelist Mehdi Hasan. During the segment, Gidursky made a controversial comment, saying, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”
Hasan, visibly taken aback, responded, “Did you just say I should die?” His reaction stemmed from Gidursky’s vague allusion to a recent attack in September, where pagers used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria detonated simultaneously, an incident widely attributed to Israel.
The exchange took place during a panel discussion on “News Night” focused on a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, where several speakers made derogatory remarks, including calling Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Tensions escalated when Gidursky claimed Hasan had been labeled an anti-Semite more than anyone else on the panel.
Host Abby Phillip critiqued Gidursky’s comment, calling it “completely out of pocket,” and he subsequently offered an apology. However, following a commercial break, he was no longer part of the discussion.
Phillip issued an apology to Hasan and the audience, stating that Gidursky, who authored the book “They’re Not Listening: How the Elites Created the National Populist Revolution,” had crossed a significant line with his remarks.
This incident occurred amidst an already charged atmosphere surrounding the Trump rally, highlighting the increasingly divisive political climate in the country with just a week to go until a contentious Election Day that reflects deep political and cultural divisions.
CNN emphasized its stance against racism and bigotry, stating there is “zero room for such behavior” on their platform, confirming that Gidursky would not be returning to the network.
In response to his ban, Gidursky took to X to express his frustration, claiming, “You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi, but apparently can’t if you make a joke. I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.”
Despite the heightened tensions, Phillip remarked that “we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest … kind of discourse.”
David Bauder covers media issues for the AP. You can follow him on Twitter at http://x.com/dbauder.
