CNN guest pulled off air for making Hezbollah pager jibe

Ryan Gidursky, a conservative panellist, ‘crosses the line’ in heated debate and will not be invited back on network

A CNN guest was taken off air on Monday evening after telling a pro-Palestinian journalist “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off”.
While discussing Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, Ryan Girdusky, a conservative panellist, told former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan: “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off”.
His remark appeared to be a reference to an incident last month where members of the Hezbollah terrorist group were killed and wounded when their pagers exploded.
Mr Gidursky was removed from the News Night show during the advert break and its host, Abby Phillip, apologised to viewers for the remarks.
Mr Hasan and Mr Gidursky had been engaged in a heated debate about Trump’s rally, where one speaker controversially called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage”.
Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential hopeful, and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, had likened the event to a Nazi rally held at the same venue in the 1930s.
Discussing the rally, Mr Hasan said: “If you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop doing things [associated with Nazis]”, before being interrupted.
Mr Girdusky, a former staffer for JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, claimed that Mr Hasan had been labelled an anti-Semite “more than anyone else at this table”, to which he responded: “I’m a supporter of the Palestinians so I’m used to it.”
Mr Girdusky hit back: “Yeah, well, I hope your beeper doesn’t go off”, provoking outrage from the other panellists.
Mr Hasan said: “Did you just say I should die? Did you just say I should be killed live on CNN?”
Host Abby Phillip addressed viewers shortly afterwards, saying she wanted to apologise to Mr Hasan for the “completely unacceptable” comments.
“There is a line that is crossed there, and it is not acceptable to me, it is not acceptable to us at this network,” she said.
“We want discussion, want people who disagree with each other to talk to each other.
“But when you cross the line of a complete lack of civility that is not going to happen here on this show… we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest of the lowest kind of discourse.”
CNN has said Mr Gidursky will not be invited back.
The commentator wrote afterwards on X, formerly Twitter: “You can stay on CNN if you falsely call every Republican a Nazi… Apparently you can’t go on CNN if you make a joke. I’m glad America gets to see what CNN stands for.”