CNN Bans Commentator Ryan Girdusky From Network After His Verbal Attack On Mehdi Hasan – Update
Update, with CNN statement: CNN says commentator Ryan Girdusky will no longer be welcome on the network after his offensive remark to fellow guest Mehdi Hasan tonight.
“There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,” the network said in a statement shared by host Abby Phillip tonight.
Earlier tonight on NewsNight with Abby Phillip, Girdusky was ushered off the show during a commercial break after making a crass comment suggesting Hasan was a member of terrorist organization. In a video accompanying CNN’s statement, Philip apologized again for the incident just as she did earlier on her show.
CNN pulled a panelist off of NewsNight with Abby Phillip this evening after he made a swipe at Mehdi Hasan, suggesting that he was aligned with terrorists.
Ryan James Girdusky, a writer and commentator, was having an argument with Hasan over the rhetoric used at Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday evening at Madison Square Garden.
Hasan said that “if you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop doing, stop saying,” but he was interrupted by Girdusky. He noted that Hasan was called an “anti-Semite more than anyone at this table.”
“By you,” Hasan said.
Then, Girdusky denied that he had called him that.
“I am in support of the Palestinians, so I am used to it,” Hasan said.
“I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” Girdusky replied. That was a reference to the exploding beepers of Hezbollah members, although Girdusky mentioned Hamas when the discussion devolved into crosstalk.
“Did you guest just say I should be killed on live TV?” Hasan asked Phillip.
Phillip told Girdusky, “That is completely out of pocket. You know that.”
“I apologize,” Girdusky said.
After a commercial break, Phillip apologized to Hasan and noted that Girdusky was no longer at the table.
“There is a line that was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me,” Phillip said. “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. 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. I want to address that and I want to apologize to the viewers at home, because we want to be able to hear each other, we want to be able to talk to each other.”
Hasan was an anchor for MSNBC his departure earlier this year. He then started his own media company, Zeteo.
CNN issued a statement, saying that Girdusky would not be welcomed back on the network.
The network said, “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.”
