Journalist Mehdi Hasan is facing intense backlash after a tweet he made in the wake of a fatal plane crash in Georgia was deemed highly insensitive and poorly worded. The incident occurred at Covington Airport, located east of Atlanta, on Tuesday, where two individuals tragically lost their lives.
Hasan, who previously hosted a show on MSNBC, posted a sarcastic comment on X (formerly Twitter) that read, “Make American Planes Crash Again.” The statement was clearly a parody of the “Make America Great Again” slogan, but it was widely criticized for its tone-deaf nature, particularly given the tragic events that had just unfolded.
In a follow-up post, Hasan explained that he deleted the tweet, clarifying that it was meant to highlight the “shocking number of plane crashes under Trump” and the impact of FAA cuts during his administration. He also defended his intent by saying he was “mocking” the former president’s slogan and not inciting violence. However, the backlash was swift, with many accusing him of crossing a line.
Hasan expressed frustration, insisting his words were taken out of context, and deflecting to accusations of bigotry, writing, “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.”
Despite his explanation, the post had already garnered significant attention. One of the more severe responses came from New York Post reporter Jon Levine, who tagged the FBI in his reaction to Hasan’s tweet. This followed a history of previous controversial remarks by Hasan, including comments in which he was criticized for making sweeping negative remarks about non-Muslims. Hasan had since apologized for those comments.
The former MSNBC host also made headlines in 2024 when his show was canceled following widespread criticism of his comments about the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. His views, which were often seen as radically pro-Islam and pro-Palestinian, had already led to significant scrutiny, and his coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict drew widespread condemnation.
The New York Post reports:
Hasan’s controversial comments didn’t end there. In 2021, he rushed to defend Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who suggested the US and Israel were just as guilty of “war crimes” as terrorist groups like Hamas and the Taliban.
At the time, he wrote, “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 has since continued his career on Substack with his newsletter, Zeteo, where he has expressed his views on various international issues.
This latest controversy is another chapter in Hasan’s contentious career, marked by inflammatory remarks and heated political opinions. His attempt to critique the Trump administration’s handling of aviation safety may have been misunderstood, but it has certainly sparked a broader discussion about the boundaries of political discourse and the responsibility of public figures to carefully consider the tone of their statements, especially in the aftermath of tragic events.
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Seijah Drake was born in Boston, MA, where she developed a penchant for writing early on and a passion for politics in college. After college she worked briefly for a conservative media in New York before relocating to the Greater D.C. Area to pursue a career in political marketing. She now resides in the free state of Florida.
So Hasan gets muzzled and Trump doesn’t? Where’s the fairness?
There was one error in the article. Mehdi Hasan was called a “Journalist”!
Major aircraft crashes seem to always come in threes.