Writer and political commentator Ryan James Girdusky (right) was banned after his inappropriate comment against British political journalist and media founder Mehdi Hasan. (Credit: Screenshot from CNN)
Therein lies a quintessential exchange that the Israeli government and military communicators could have done without.
On Monday night's live broadcast of CNN NewsNight, one of the panelists, conservative New York writer and political commentator Ryan James Girdusky punctuated an exchange with British political journalist and media founder Mehdi Hasan by wishing him that “his pager doesn't go off.”
The essence of the conversation shows that Girdusky used the expression to refer to the coordinated explosion of thousands of beepers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah on Sept. 17 and 18, which killed 42 and wounded 3,500. This incident had marked a new turning point in the daily clashes between Israel and the party since Oct. 8, 2023, on the sidelines of the war in Gaza.
In response to the online furore caused by this outburst, CNN immediately banned the commentator from its channel.
'Total lack of civility'
The announcement was made live by presenter Abby Phillip, just after the controversial sequence: “I would like to apologize to Mehdi Hasan for what happened around that table, which was completely unacceptable ... to me and to our channel,” she said before referring to a “phrase” said during the program in question but without repeating it.
“A line was crossed, and that's not acceptable to me. It's not acceptable to us on this network. We want discussion. We want people who disagree to talk to each other. But when you cross the line into a total lack of civility, that's not going to happen here, on this show,” Phillip said.
“It's a tense time. We're eight days away from the presidential election, but we can have discussions about what's going on in this country without resorting to the lowest of rhetoric,” she continued, before apologizing to viewers. In a statement, CNN said there was “no tolerance for racism or bigotry on CNN or our airwaves” and that Girdusky “will no longer be welcome.”
Girdusky and Hasan had been invited to debate the content and tone of the speech given on Sunday, Oct. 27 by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally at New York's Madison Square Garden, a week before the election. In front of a 20,000-strong audience, the former U.S. president made a number of controversial remarks that were described as racist, and one speaker's outburst about Puerto Rico, described as “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” caused a scandal. After the speech, Trump defended himself against being called a “Nazi,” arguing that the camp of his election opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, tended to label all those who didn't share their ideas as such.
At one point in the heated CNN debate, Hasan challenged Girdusky: “If you don't want to be called Nazis, stop saying it,” before adding that he was “used to being called an anti-Semite for supporting the Palestinians.” The writer replied, “Well, I hope your pager doesn't go off.” Hasan immediately reacted to the remark after a brief glance at Phillip: “So you're saying I should die. Your guest just said I should die.”
Gauging the extent of the discomfort caused by his remarks on set, Girdusky then tried to drown out the response by drawing an erroneous parallel between Hasan's support for the Palestinians and Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is considered a terrorist organization in the United States. He then summarily apologized, after being reprimanded live by Phillip.
On X, Girdusky reacted after the incident: “You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi and have received money from Qatari-funded media. Apparently, you can't go on CNN if you make a joke. I'm glad America can see what CNN stands for.” This was another outburst that was criticized by many commentators, some denouncing the bad taste of his “joke,” others criticizing him for apologizing live on air.
This article was translated from L'Orient-Le Jour.
