Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan deleted a social media post on Tuesday after sparking outrage with a comment referencing a fatal plane crash at Georgia’s Covington Airport, located east of Atlanta.
Hasan admitted that his post was “poorly worded” but claimed it was meant as a critique of the Trump administration.
Hasan initially posted “Make American Planes Crash Again,” a play on the “Make America Great Again” slogan, which he said was meant to highlight what he described as a high number of plane crashes under President Donald Trump.
Mehdi Hasan deleted this tweet because it exposes that he is an extremist.
It would be a shame if it went viral. pic.twitter.com/yaT58gE6ac
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) February 18, 2025
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However, his comment was met with swift backlash, prompting him to remove it.
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“I deleted this sarcastic quote-tweet because MAGA and Islamophobic folks are clipping it out of context and trying to ridiculously suggest I’m inciting violence,” Hasan wrote.
“I was obviously mocking the MAGA slogan ‘Make America… Again’ and highlighting the shocking number of plane crashes under Trump and the FAA cuts,” he added.
Hasan acknowledged that the tweet was “in poor taste” and “poorly worded” but argued that critics were using it in “bad faith” to attack him.
He also claimed that a New York Post reporter had tagged the FBI in response to his post.
I deleted this sarcastic quote-tweet because MAGA and Islamophobic folks are clipping it out of context and trying to ridiculously suggest I’m inciting violence. I was obviously mocking the MAGA slogan ‘Make America… Again’ slogan and highlighting the shocking number of plane… pic.twitter.com/edvFRq66ZH
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 18, 2025
New York Post reporter Jon Levine indeed flagged the post to the FBI and resurfaced an old video of Hasan making controversial remarks.
The clip, which has circulated in the past, shows Hasan referring to non-Muslims as “animals” and drawing comparisons between homosexuality and “sexual deviants” and “pedophiles.”
Hasan previously addressed these remarks in 2019, stating that he had made them over a decade earlier while working for Al Jazeera.
At the time, he apologized and said he “deeply regretted” his “sweeping remarks about non-Muslims.”
Hasan, who has been a vocal supporter of pro-Palestinian causes, parted ways with MSNBC in 2024 after the network canceled The Mehdi Hasan Show.
Following his departure, he launched a Substack publication called Zeteo.
His show’s cancellation came months after he faced criticism for his response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.
In the days following the attack, Hasan argued that the violence was the result of “failed policies” by Israel and the United States.
In November 2023, Hasan conducted a contentious interview with Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev, accusing the Israeli government of killing children and spreading “propaganda and false information.”
Hasan has previously defended Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., when she suggested that the U.S. and Israel were guilty of war crimes comparable to those committed by Hamas and the Taliban.
“Look, Americans get very upset when our nation is accused of war crimes, but I’m sorry to break this to you, our nation has done some pretty awful things abroad, and we have to be able to talk about them,” Hasan wrote in 2021.
“Americans get very upset when our nation is accused of war crimes. But I’m sorry to break this to you but our nation has done some pretty awful things abroad & we have to be able to talk about them.”
My sixty-second rant on @MSNBC tonight.
Watch/share:pic.twitter.com/ivWkXOJKAU
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 14, 2021
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In March 2022, Hasan also drew comparisons between Israeli airstrikes on Hamas in Gaza and Russia’s bombing of Ukraine during the early weeks of the ongoing war.
Hasan has remained active in political commentary following his MSNBC exit, continuing to push his views on foreign policy, the Middle East, and U.S. politics through his independent platform.
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