A CNN panel this evening went off the rails when conservative commentator Ryan Girdusky said to journalist Mehdi Hasan, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” in a heated discussion on racism at last night’s Donald Trump rally in New York City.
Girdusky was referring to the booby-trapped beepers used by operatives of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that were remotely detonated by Israel last month and killed dozens of people, including a little girl. Hasan is a Muslim.
Girdusky noted that Hasan has often been accused of being an anti-Semite, though he qualified his remarks by stating that he’s never made such claims himself.
Hasan, the Zeteo founder and former MSNBC anchor, addressing the accusations said, “I’m a supporter of the Palestinians. I’m used to it.”
Bizarrely, Girdusky replied with the “beeper” comment, stunning the other panelists and host Abby Phillip. Girdusky then asked Hasan whether he was a supporter of Hamas. He proceeded to try to justify his “beeper” remark by claiming that he heard the British American Muslim commentator describe himself as a supporter of the militant group.
Realizing he only embarrassed himself, Girdusky then nervously kept on repeating, “I apologize. I apologize.”
He was later removed from the show by Phillip, who apologized to Hasan and viewers at home. Phillip said Girdusky “crossed a line of a complete lack of civility” and described his comments as “the lowest of the lowest kind of discourse.”
In a statement released after the show, CNN’s communications team said, “Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.”
Watch the fiery exchange between Ryan Girdusky and Mehdi Hasan
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