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CNN fires conservative commentator after exchange with Muslim guest

CNN fires conservative commentator after exchange with Muslim guest


CNN fires conservative commentator after exchange with Muslim guest

NEW YORK — CNN has banned conservative writer Ryan Gidursky from the network following a contentious on-air exchange where he told panelist Mehdi Hasan that “I hope your beeper doesn't go off.”

Hasan and Gidursky were on a panel on “News Night” Monday night, talking about Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden.

The panel discussion devolved into back-and-forth bickering after Gidursky said to Hasan, a commentator and founder of the media company Zeteo, that “you've been called an anti-Semite more than anyone else at this table.”

“Did you just say I should die?” Hasan said, responding to Gidursky's apparent reference to September's attack where pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists exploded simultaneously. The attack was widely believed to be carried out by Israel.

Host Abby Phillip said that Gidursky's beeper comment was “completely out of pocket” and he apologized. But after a commercial break, he was gone.

CNN, saying there is “zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,” said that Gidursky would not be allowed back on the network.

Gidursky 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.”