CNN sparked a firestorm on Tuesday over a story that appeared to downplay a serious threat to the life of a rising Democratic star.
The network reported that two Pennsylvania men—Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19—were charged with a bomb attack at an anti-Muslim protest outside the residence of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Saturday. No device exploded, but authorities have described the incident as an “act of ISIS-inspired terrorism.”
Then early Tuesday morning, CNN published a now-deleted X post about the suspects that infuriated readers.
“Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather,” it read. “But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.”
The post drew widespread condemnation and outraged even the White House.
“No, they’re radical Islamic terrorists who threw an IED at a protest. We don’t do that in America,” the White House’s rapid response account wrote on X, attaching a screenshot of CNN’s post and adding that the network was “not a serious organization.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson chimed in from her personal X account.
“They’re alleged ISIS-inspired terrorists not ‘Pennsylvania teenagers whose lives would drastically change’ you absolute ghouls,” she said.
Paul Szypula, a popular MAGA influencer, said “CNN shamelessly tries to make it seem like the ‘teenagers’ who threw the homemade bombs in NYC were anti-Muslim when in reality they were radical ISIS-inspired Islamic terrorists.”
The advocacy group Stop Antisemitism called for “every CNN employee” who was involved in the post to be “terminated.”
“An absolute disgrace to the field of journalism,” it said.
The backlash forced CNN to delete the post and issue a statement.
“A post regarding the two individuals arrested for throwing homemade bombs outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted,” the network said.
But the statement only inflamed criticism even further.
“What a shame it took a public ridiculing for CNN to notice the embarrassing post that it has had to delete,” the Israeli media watchdog HonestReporting wrote on X.
“CNN DELETED this post referring to the two NYC Islamic Terrorists as ‘Pennsylvania teenagers’ and wording it to appear as if they were anti-Muslim protesters. Their reasoning? It ‘failed to reflect the gravity of the incident.’ CNN is a complete disgrace,” MAGA firebrand Chaya Raichik, who goes by Libs of Tiktok online, said.
Google search results show, however, that the social media post simply copied the original lede of the story that appeared on CNN’s website.
The opening paragraph was later changed to read, “Two Pennsylvania men on Saturday followed the route taken by thousands as they crossed the George Washington Bridge into New York City. But less than an hour later, their trajectory took a dark turn as they were arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.”
Later on Tuesday morning, the lede appeared to have been amended a second time.
“Investigators are digging deeper into the backgrounds of two terror suspects accused of tossing makeshift bombs at a protest outside the New York City mayor’s home in what authorities describe as an ISIS-inspired attack over the weekend,” the latest version read.
The top of the article was also updated to include a notice that states, “A previous version of this story included a summary that does not reflect the gravity of the incident, thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It therefore has been changed.”
When reached for comment about the changes, CNN referred the Daily Beast to the editor’s note.
