Ryan Girdusky, a conservative panelist, found himself kicked off of CNN anchor Abby Phillip's show, News Night, following his racist remark towards a fellow guest, Mehdi Hasan, on Monday, October 28.
When the commercial break was over, Abby offered an apology on air to Hasan. She also informed viewers that Girdusky had been booted. However, Hasan was not seen on air either, and the host revealed that he had left of his own accord.
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"I wanna be clear that we did not ask Medhi 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 that he will join us again soon."
Abby Phillip said Ryan Girdusky was "out of pocket" when he made racist remarks
When the latter, a left-wing British American, expressed his support for Palestinian rights, Ryan Girdusky, founder of the 1776 Project Political Action Committee, said:
"Well, I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”
The comment was a direct reference to Israel bombing Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist organization, using explosive pagers in Lebanon. Girdusky continued speaking, but Hasan interjected:
"Did you just say I should die? Did you just say I should be killed live on CNN?”
The former denied the accusation and tried pointing out there was a miscommunication, but Hasan persisted, asking Abby if her guest just said he "should be killed on live TV?”
While Ryan Girdusky did apologize, Philip told him that he was "completely out of pocket.” The show did air Philip's apology. The host also took to social media to elaborate on the same on behalf of CNN, which read:
"There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air. We aim to foster thoughtful conversations and debate including between people who profoundly disagree with each other in order to explore important issues and promote mutual understanding. But we will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed. Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network."
She also shared an accompanying video, where she can be heard saying:
"Hey I'm sure everyone has seen what has happened on the show tonight. I just wanna address one quick thing. As you may have seen, Ryan was asked to leave the show, and we have put out a statement saying that he is not welcome back on air. There is a line here on this program, and it was crossed."
Notably, Ryan Girdusky himself took to X to share his side of the story. He claimed that "if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have taken money from Qatar-funded media," you can "stay on CNN." However, "apparently, you can't go on CNN if you make a joke." He continued, noting that he's "glad America gets to see what CNN stands for."
Hasan is a vocal critic of Israel's handling of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
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