CNN suspends Ryan Girdusky after racist attack on Mehdi Hasan

A cable news discussion on “CNN Newsnight with Abby Phillip” on Monday night took a shocking turn when conservative panelist Ryan Girdusky attacked journalist Mehdi Hasan, leading to the former being banned from the network.

During a discussion of Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Girdusky told Hasan, “I hope your pager doesn’t go off,” referring to recent Israeli attacks on members of the terrorist group Hezbollah in which explosives were detonated in pagers . The comment came after Hasan said he was a “supporter of the Palestinians.”

Hasan, a Muslim journalist and founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo News, was shocked by the statement and asked: “Did you just say I should die?”

CNN quickly released a statement posted by Phillip on social media banning Girdusky from the network.

“There is no room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our show,” the statement said. “Our aim is to promote thoughtful conversations and debates, even between people who have deeply different opinions, to discuss important issues and promote mutual understanding. But we will not allow guests to be humiliated or to cross the line of politeness. Ryan Girdusky will no longer be welcome on our network.”

After the segment, Phillip announced that she had fired Girdusky during the commercial break, saying, “There was a line that was crossed, and that’s unacceptable to me.” That’s unacceptable to us at this network. We want discussion. We want people who have different opinions to talk to each other. But if you cross the line into a complete lack of civility, that’s not going to happen here on this show. It’s a heated time. We are in the middle of a political season. We are still eight days away from a presidential election, but we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest discourse.”

Girdusky attacked the network after CNN’s decision, writing on Apparently you can’t go on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America sees what CNN stands for.”