GOP commentator Ryan Girdusky has been banned from CNN after he made offensive comments Monday toward Muslim journalist Mehdi Hasan, seemingly referencing his ethnicity.
“I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” Girdusky told Hasan, an apparent reference the pager bomb detonations earlier this year that resulted in several deaths and thousands of injuries in Lebanon.
Hasan had started saying, “if you don’t want to be called ‘Nazis,’ stop…,” before the back-and-forth began.
“Did you just say I should die? Did you just say I should be killed live on CNN?” Hasan responded, in remarks highlighted by Mediaite.
Host Abby Phillip attempted to stop the conversation several times as Hasan asked Girdusky, “Are you a racist, violent person inciting violence against me?”
“Ryan, that is completely out of pocket,” Phillips interjected. “You know that.”
“Then, I apologize,” Girdusky responded.
“Don’t say ‘then I apologize.’ You literally accused him — ” Phillips began, before getting interrupted again by another heated exchange.
Phillips posted on the social platform X Monday, weighing in further on the exchange between Hasan and Girdusky.
“I take this very seriously and want to again apologize to @mehdirhasan and I hope he’ll join us another time,” Phillips had written in the post. She included CNN’s statement, as well.
CNN said the network will “not allow guests to be demeaned,” adding that that Girdusky “will not be welcomed back” as a guest on the network.
“There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,” the statement reads. “We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate including between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore 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,” the network wrote.
Girdusky also made a post about the back-and-forth on X, claiming his comments were a “joke.”
“Apparently you can’t go on CNN if you make a joke,” he wrote in the post. “I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.”
