During a discussion about former President Donald Trump’s weekend rally at Madison Square Garden, former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan said he understood that no one wants to be called a Nazi and that the label was inflammatory, but added: “if you don’t want Nazis are called , stop doing things (associated with Nazis).”

Girdusky interrupted and said that Hasan has been called an anti-Semite “more than anyone else at this table,” to which the journalist responded by saying that it was Girdusky who called him that and it was because he supports the Palestinians – “so I am used to it. ”

Girdusky then interjected, “Yeah, well, I hope your pager doesn’t go off,” which seemed to suggest that Hasan, who is Muslim, has ties to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed militant group whose pagers suddenly exploded last month a suspected Israeli attack. .

Hasan responded by asking, “Did you just say I had to die? Did you just say I should be killed live on CNN? He then asked the station if the guest had just said, “Should I be killed on live TV?”

Girdusky’s comment was then called out by host Abby Phillip, who said it was “completely out of pocket, you know that.”

When the show subsequently returned from a break, Girdusky had been removed from the panel and Phillip said: “First I would like to apologize to Mehdi Hasan for what was said at this table, it was completely unacceptable.”