‘I hope your beeper doesn’t go off’: CNN bans writer after remark to Muslim panelist
In heated exchange, Israel critic Mehdi Hasan asks Ryan Girdusky if he thinks he should die after apparent reference to Hezbollah pager blasts; CNN: No room for ‘racism’ on network
CNN has banned conservative writer Ryan Girdusky from the network following a contentious on-air exchange where he told panelist Mehdi Hasan “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”
“Did you just say I should die?” Hasan said, responding to Girdusky’s apparent reference to September’s attack where pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria exploded simultaneously. The attack was widely believed to be carried out by Israel, though Jerusalem has not confirmed its involvement.
The pager explosions occurred after almost a year of incessant rocket fire on Israel and drone launches by the Hezbollah terror group, which it began a day after Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Hasan and Girdusky were on a panel on “NewsNight” Monday night, talking about Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, where speakers made a variety of racist comments and referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” The panel discussion devolved into back-and-forth bickering after Hasan told Girdusky, “if you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop saying it.”
Girdusky fired back by telling Hasan, a vehement Israel critic and founder of the media company Zeteo, “you’ve been called an antisemite more than anyone else at this table.”
“I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, so I’m used to it,” Hasan responded, prompting Girdusky’s remark, “Yeah, well I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”
Host Abby Phillip said that Girdusky’s beeper comment was “completely out of pocket” and he apologized. But after a commercial break, he was gone.
Philip apologized to Hasan and to the viewers. She said Girdusky, author of the book “They’re Not Listening: How the Elites Created the National Populist Revolution,” had crossed a line.
CNN was having a heated discussion about the Trump rally, where the racist and other demeaning language was a sign of how tensions are coming to a boil with only a week to go until a highly contested and contentious Election Day that reflects the nation’s political and cultural fissures.
Here’s the video of Ryan Gidursky saying to Mehdi Hasan, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.” https://t.co/Zn1B7SCI8i pic.twitter.com/5MX93GOeAe
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 29, 2024
Despite that fragmentation, Phillip said that “we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest… kind of discourse.”
CNN, saying there is “zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,” said that Girdusky would not be allowed back on the network.
Girdusky responded in a post on X: “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.”
ADL Jonathan Greenblatt denounced Girdusky’s “absolutely grotesque comment,” saying despite his strong disagreement with Hasan on Israel “it’s not a joke to suggest someone is a terrorist.” He later issued another condemnation of Hasan for his Nazi analogy, as “such comparisons are inaccurate, offensive and dishonor the memory of the six million Jews slaughtered by the Third Reich and the millions of others who also were murdered by the Nazi regime.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.