CNN host Abby Phillip took to X Monday night to explain what happened on her show, “News Night,” after conservative panelist Ryan James Girdusky told guest Mehdi Hasan—who is Muslim—that he hoped his “beeper doesn’t go off.”
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Gidursky offered an apology and said he thought Hasan was a Hamas supporter, but was ultimately banned from the network because of his shocking comment.
“As you may have seen, Ryan was asked to leave the show and we put out a statement saying that he’s not welcome back on our air. There is a line here on this program and it was crossed,” Phillip said in the video.
“I want to be clear as well that we did not ask Mehdi to not come back. In fact, we really wanted him to come back and finish the show. We had a lot to talk to him about and we really hope he’ll join us again soon.”
After Girdusky’s comment during the live segment Monday night, Black women checked him on-air immediately with Philip saying “Ryan, that is completely out of pocket.” Biden-Harris campaign staffer Ashley Allison asked Girdusky to repeat what he just said and called his words “disgusting.”
After saying she wasn’t going to entertain nonsense, Allison condemned Trump’s followers whose hateful rhetoric was on full display during his MAGA rally in New York City earlier this week.
“This is why [Sunday’s] rally was disgusting and outrageous...I don’t have to call you words and make up something,” Allison said, directly addressing Girdusky. “You’re saying it for yourself. And what you just said right here? Apologize—but I will tell you I don’t accept that apology.”
Gidursky’s beeper remark referenced Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon last month using exploding pagers. The explosions killed 12 and injured thousands more.
Girdusky later took to X to complain about the network’s decision. “You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have taken money from Qatar-funded media,” he said. “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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