CNN’s Abby Phillip Ejects Guest Mid-Show Over Ugly Comment Directed at Mehdi Hasan: ‘That Is Not Going to Happen Here’

CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip took the highly unusual step of kicking a guest off the show in the middle of Monday’s program.

Phillip’s panel discussed former President Donald Trump’s lengthy rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, which featured several speakers who made controversial and outright racist remarks. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe received the lion’s share of the criticisms, particularly for his shot at immigrants.

“And these Latinos, they love making babies, too, just know that,” Hinchcliffe said. “They do, they do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside, just like they did to our country.”

He also took a shot at Puerto Rico.

“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now,” he said. “I think it’s called Puerto Rico?”

The Trump campaign has sought to distance its candidate from the remarks.

During the panel, guests Mehdi Hasan and Ryan Gidursky argued about the rally, with Hasan stating that Trump made some troubling remarks himself.

“And then Trump himself turned up and talked about [immigrants] invading and occupying our country, which is the language of the far right,” Hasan said. “He talked about ‘enemy of the people,’ which is Joseph Goebbels. He talked about enemy of the enemy within, which is literally Hitler. I mean, these are– my problem is, I get it, which nobody wants to be called Nazis. It’s very inflammatory. But if you don’t want to be called Nazis, stop doing–”

Gidursky interrupted and said, “You’ve been called an anti-Semite more than anyone at this table.”

“By you,” Hasan replied.

“Be me?” Gidursky said. “I never called you an anti-Semite.”

“I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, so I’m used to it,” Hasan responded.

“Well, I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” Gidursky replied, alluding to the fact that the Israeli government planted explosives in pagers that were to be delivered to members of the Hezbollah terror group. The devices blew up across Lebanon and Syria last month, wounding hundreds and killing several others.

“Did you just say I should die?” a stunned Hasan said.

“No!” Gidursky said.

“Did your guest just say I should be killed on live TV?” Hasan asked Phillip.

As Phillip tried to take control of her show, Gidursky claimed he believed Hasan said he supported Hamas.

“Then, I apologize,” Gidursky said.

The show eventually went to break, and when she returned, Phillip apologized to Hasan and told viewers Girdusky had been kicked off the show:

We’re back here, and before we get started, I just wanna address what happened in the last segment. First, I want to apologize to Mehdi Hasan for what was said at this table. It was completely unacceptable. When we get this discussion started, you’ll see that Ryan is not at the table. There is a line that was crossed there, and it’s not acceptable to me. It’s not acceptable to us at this network. We want discussion. We 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. It’s a heated time. We’re in the middle of a political season. We are eight days from a presidential election. But we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest of the lowest kind of discourse. Want to address that.

And I want to apologize to the viewers at home because we wanna be able to hear each other. We wanna be able to talk to each other. And we plan to do that in this next segment.

CNN issued a statement to Mediaite addressing the segment late Monday night.

“There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air,” it read. “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.”

Watch above via CNN.