Ryan Girdusky Banned From CNN After On-Air Threat to Mehdi Hasan

A tense discussion on CNN Newsnight With Abby Phillip on Monday night (October 28) ended with Trump-supporting panelist Ryan Girdusky being thrown off set and banned from the network.

The situation happened during a discussion about Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday (October 17). As per Variety, Girdusky told journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” referring to the recent Israeli attacks against terrorist group Hezbollah in which explosives were detonated in pagers.

“Did you say I should die? You just said I should be killed,” responded Hasan.

“No, no I did not say that,” Girdusky replied.

Hasan turned his attention to Phillip, asking, “Did your guest just say I should be killed on live TV?”

Phillip admonished Girdusky, referring to his comment as “disgusting.”

Every day, we think we may have hit rock bottom, and every day we are proven wrong.

Girdusky just said to Mehdi Hasan on live TV: “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off” pic.twitter.com/z9NK9Fs4T8

— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) October 29, 2024

After Hasan said CNN just had someone on air “saying the Muslim guy should be blown up,” Girdusky responded, “Then I apologize. I focused on Hamas, I apologize.”

“I don’t support Hamas, I support Palestinian rights,” Hasan clarified. “Forget the racism, it’s ‘I should die.’ What does beeper mean? What did you mean by the beeper? At least have the guts to support your racist comment.”

Former Biden-Harris campaign staffer Ashley Allison, who was also a guest on the panel, refused to accept Girdusky’s apology. “I appreciate the apology, but I don’t want a conditional apology for saying something that is completely not civil,” she stated.

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After the show returned from a commercial break, Girdusky had been removed from the set. Phillip then offered her own apology to Hasan and the viewers at home.

“I want to apologize to Mehdi Hasan for what was said at this table. It was completely unacceptable when we get this discussion started, you’ll see that Ryan is not at the table,” Phillip said. “There is a line that was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me. 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,” she continued. “But when you cross the line of a complete lack of civility, that is not going to happen here on this show. It‘s a heated time. We‘re in the middle of a political season. We are eight days from a presidential election, but we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest of the lowest kind of discourse.”

Following the segment, CNN released a statement confirming that Girdusky had been banned from future appearances on the network.

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

“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,” the statemeant read. “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.”

Girdusky responded to the situation on X, writing, “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.”