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CNN is facing backlash on social media over a now-deleted Tuesday post on X about the two “Pennsylvania teenagers” who were charged with throwing bombs at a protest near Gracie Mansion in New York City on Saturday.
“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. Here’s what we know so far.”
The suspects, 18-year-old Emir Balat of Langhorne and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of Newtown, traveled from Bucks County to Manhattan on Saturday, when police said they ignited and hurled explosive devices into a protest crowd outside Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s residence.
Federal prosecutors charged the suspects with material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and use of a weapon of mass destruction.
The post has now been deleted. CNN 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.”
Social media users were quick to call out CNN’s “bizarre” framing of the incident, which failed to mention the words “terror” or “terrorist” anywhere in its post.
“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.”
Journalist Scot Bertram mocked the post by rewriting it to reflect the events of Sept. 11, 2001: “Nineteen men arrived at East Coast airports Tuesday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying a cross-country flight. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change.”
RedState writer Bonchie argued that CNN was doing “everything they can to make these Islamists [seem] like misguided victims.”
“I don’t really understand this framing by CNN,” News2Share editor-in-chief Ford Fischer wrote. “Couldn’t anybody who does something life-changing have ‘a normal day’ if they don’t do the thing?”
“Man you just gotta hate when two teenagers, who could’ve been enjoying the warm weather, have their life drastically changed because they accidentally brought a home made bomb that would’ve killed multiple people,” Barstool Sports content creator Jack Mac mocked. “Oops! I did some terrorism! Can’t believe my life has changed!”
When reached for comment about the now-deleted post, CNN referred Digital to its new statement on X.
Digital’s Stepheny Price, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Greg Wehner and CB Cotton contributed to this report.
