‘Holy hell’: CNN flayed for calling NYC Islamic terror suspects ‘Pennsylvania teenagers’
Says allegedly ISIS-inspired pair were likely enjoying the day’s warm weather in the Big Apple
Reminiscent of media calling illegal-alien gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia a “Maryland father,” CNN is getting plenty of flak for an X post about the two men now in custody and facing terrorism charges related to a Saturday attack in NYC, calling them simply “Pennsylvania teenagers.”
The two were charged with throwing bombs at a protest near Gracie Mansion in New York City on Saturday, as Fox News reports.
“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,” the post 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.”
Police say the suspects, 18-year-old Emir Balat of Langhorne and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of Newtown, Pennsylvania, ignited and hurled explosive devices into a protest crowd outside the mayor’s residence.
Federal prosecutors charged the “teenagers” with material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and use of a weapon of mass destruction.
The CNN post has now been deleted. The network followed up with this explanation on X: “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.”
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter was critical of the post but not the story itself.
Social media users were quick to rip the network:
“CNN has now deleted this tweet, but holy hell. Terrorism fan fiction is a choice,” said Outkick founder Clay Travis.
“This is the weirdest framing,” Examiner columnist Tim Carney wrote on X. “The major left-leaning outlets hate this story, but know they cannot ignore it, so they go to bizarre contortions.”
Deputy editor of Jewish News U.K. Daniel Sugarman noted that the post would have been “extremely strange” even if it were posted the day after the attack occurred, but “given everything we now know about these [two] people and their motives, is journalistic malpractice.”
“Wow. ISIS-inspired perpetrators commit a literal terrorist act, and this is what CNN comes up with?” media watchdog group HonestReporting questioned. “Oh, those poor ‘Pennsylvania teenagers,’ whose lives have ‘drastically changed’ because they made the conscious decision to throw bombs. When will the media stop employing narrative storytelling to infantilize perpetrators of ideologically motivated crimes?”
“Who writes this garbage?” Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., wrote on X. “They are radical Islamic terrorists.”
The head of New York City police says the attack is being probed as an act of Islamic terror.
“This is being investigated as ISIS-inspired terrorism,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during a Monday morning news conference.
