Mehdi Hasan Responds After ‘Beeper’ Comment by CNN Guest: ‘So Stunned’

Progressive commentator and journalist Mehdi Hasan said that he was “so stunned” when a conservative commentator told him, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” during a panel on CNN.

The statement was made on Monday night by Ryan Girdusky during a segment on CNN anchor Abby Phillip’s show while a group of panelists debated the racist and inflammatory remarks made at former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally.

Girdusky’s phrase appears to be a reference to Israel’s attack in September involving rigged pagers that targeted the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The strike killed dozens of people and injured thousands of others, including civilians and children.

Hasan, who is Muslim, said on Wednesday in a video message shared on X, formerly Twitter, that while he’s “interviewed” and “sparred with controversial, opinionated, offensive people from across the world…never in my 25 years as a journalist, and 15 years of doing live TV, have I been so stunned by what was said to me.”

“But as shocked and stunned as I was, there was no way I was going to let him say that to me unchallenged,” Hasan added.

Hasan said that he was happy to see that CNN made the decision to ban Girdusky from appearing on air in the future and that Phillip took the time to apologize to the viewers “after I walked off set.” Hasan left the panel on Monday voluntarily after the attack, while Girdusky was asked to leave during a commercial break.

This is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes available.