A CNN panellist has been banned from appearing on the network after he made racist remarks during a Newsnight debate.
Conservative commentator Ryan Girdusky was removed from a Newsnight panel and banned from CNN
American news network CNN has banned a guest for life after he “demeaned” a fellow panellist during a live television debate.
Conservative political commentator Ryan Girdusky was removed from a newsnight panel on Monday night after he told Muslim journalist Mehdi Hasan: “I hope your bleeper doesn’t go off.”
The statement was an apparent reference to the wave of pager explosions which took place across Lebanon last month and killed members of the Hezbollah militant group.
As the broadcast resumed from a break shortly after the comment, both Girdusky and Hasan were absent from the discussion and CNN later confirmed: “Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.”
At the time of the comment, the roundtable was debating the racist jokes made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe during Donald Trump
The conversation between Girdusky and Hasan became heated as they spoke about labelling people anti-Semitic, to which the muslim journalist said: “I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, so I’m used to it.”
Girdusky responded with: “Well, I hope your bleeper doesn’t go off.”
The panellists responded to the comment with shock and Hasan questioned: “Did you just say I should die? Did you just say I should be killed?”
Following the broadcast, a statement issued by CNN read: “There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air.”
It continued: “We will not allow guests to be demeaned or for the line of civility to be crossed.”
Newsnight host Abby Phillip also put out a statement asserting that Ryan Girdusky “is not welcome back on our air”.
She explained: “There is a line here on this programme and it was crossed.”
She also confirmed that Mehdi was not asked to leave and asserted that the newsnight team had wanted him to come back on set and finish the show, although she added she did not want to speak on his behalf around his reason for exiting.
She added: “I take this very seriously and want to again apologise to Mehdi Hasan and I hope he’ll join us another time.”
In a post on X after the broadcast, Girdusky appeared to stand by the comments he made and wrote: “Apparently you can’t go on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.”