Mehdi Hasan

2009–2011: Early beginnings

Hasan worked as a researcher and then producer on ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby programme,^[20] with a brief period in between on BBC One's The Politics Show.^[20] Following this, he became deputy executive producer on Sky's breakfast show Sunrise^[20] before moving to Channel 4 as their editor of news and current affairs.^[21] He was appointed senior editor for politics at the New Statesman in late spring of 2009,^[22] where he stayed until May 2012, then becoming political director of The Huffington Post website.^[21]

2012–2020: Al Jazeera and The Intercept

Hasan became a presenter on Al Jazeera's English news channel in May 2012.^[23] Hasan has appeared (six times) on the BBC's Question Time programme,^[24] and the Sunday morning programmes The Big Questions^[25] and Sunday Morning Live.^[26] In October 2013 on Question Time, Hasan called the Daily Mail "immigrant-bashing, woman-hating, Muslim-smearing, NHS-undermining, [and] gay-baiting". The newspaper responded by printing an e-mail he had sent them in 2010, in which he asked for a column and praised several of their viewpoints. Hasan said the "sycophantic" letter was his writing but criticised the newspaper's decision to publish it.^[27][28]

In 2013, Hasan took part in a debate at the Oxford Union to consider whether Islam is a peaceful religion. Hasan, who is an Ithna'Asheri Shia Muslim, vouched for Islam as a religion of peace, citing political and cultural reasons for violence in Muslim majority countries, as opposed to holding the religion of Islam responsible. In the vote on the motion, the house affirmed with Hasan and the other proposers that Islam is a religion of peace with 286 votes in favor and 168 votes against.^[29] In March 2015, Hasan appeared in a Guardian opinion video on UK immigration.^[30] Recorded at the Oxford Union, Head to Head was a programme on Al Jazeera English in which Hasan interviewed public figures; it had run for three series by December 2014. Since 2015, working full-time for the network in Washington, D.C., Hasan has hosted a weekly interview and discussion programme.^[9]

Hasan began a podcast in 2018 entitled Deconstructed, produced by the investigative journalism website The Intercept. On air, Hasan would discuss recent news topics and host guests. Notable topics covered on the podcast include police brutality, inequality, QAnon, and Donald Trump's activity on Twitter. Notable podcast guests have included Noam Chomsky, Ilhan Omar, and Bernie Sanders. On 2 October 2020, Hasan announced that he would no longer host the show as part of his move to host The Mehdi Hasan Show on NBC's new streaming service, Peacock.^[10]

2021–2024: The Mehdi Hasan Show and move from MSNBC to The Guardian

Hasan hosted The Mehdi Hasan Show^[31] on the online service Peacock since Oct 2020 airing weeknights at 7 pm Eastern.^[4] Notable guests on The Mehdi Hasan Show have included Mark Ruffalo, Jon Stewart, John Bolton, Keith Ellison, Ro Khanna, John Legend, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In March 2021, Hasan launched the same show on MSNBC every Sunday evening.^[32][33] He was also the fill-in host on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.^{[citation needed]}

During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, MSNBC cancelled Hasan's show.^[34] NBC stated the change was coincidental and not due to the host's religion.^[35][36] Eric Bazail-Eimil of Politico noted, the decision made by the network "in favor of more straight news coverage of the conflict".^[37] On 30 November 2023, it was announced that Hasan's MSNBC and Peacock shows would end.^[38] Hasan announced at the end of his final show on 7 January 2024 that he had decided to leave the network.^[39] Hasan joined The Guardian as a regular columnist in February.^[40]

2024: Launching of the digital media company Zeteo and the return of Head to Head

Forbes interviewed Hasan in February 2024 when the website Zeteo News was created. Hasan stated: Zeteo "is an ancient Greek word that means to seek out, to inquire, to get to the truth".^[14] Zeteo was presented as a subscription-based news organization. He announced that the platform will "bring you hard-hitting interviews and unsparing analysis that you won't find elsewhere".^[14] Hasan presents a new video series on the Zeteo News channel,^[41] the first one was called "Debunked! Top seven lies about Gaza".^[41]

Contributors announced upon Zeteo's launch in April 2024 included Naomi Klein, Greta Thunberg, Viet Thanh Nguyen, John Harwood, Fatima Bhutto and Owen Jones, who would co-host the podcast Two Outspoken alongside Hasan.^[42] On 19 April 2024, it was announced that Bassem Youssef will join Zeteo as co-host for their new podcast We're Not Kidding.^[43]

In June 2024, Al-Jazeera announced the return of Hasan as host of Head to Head.^[13] The program returned with two interviews, one with Israeli historian, Benny Morris, and another with the former translator for Deng Xiaoping, Victor Gao, recorded in London in July 2024.^[13]

In late October 2024, Hasan appeared as a guest panelist on the CNN show NewsNight with Abby Phillip to discuss the controversies surrounding statements made at the 2024 Trump rally at Madison Square Garden. During the discussion, CNN contributor Ryan Girdusky told Hasan "Yeah, well, I hope your beeper doesn’t go off," referring to the 2024 Lebanon electronic device attacks which targeted members of Hezbollah by exploding their pagers. Hasan pushed back against the assertion, asking Girdusky "Did you just say I should die? Did you just say I should be killed live on CNN?". Other panelists objected to Girdusky's comment and Girdusky was admonished by host Abby Phillip. When the show returned from break, Girdusky had been removed from the panel and Phillip apologized to Hasan. CNN quickly released a statement stating that "There is zero room for racism or bigotry at CNN or on our air," and that "Ryan Girdusky will not be welcomed back at our network.”^[44]

Islamic faith

During a sermon delivered in 2009, Hasan made remarks about "the kuffar, the disbelievers, the atheists who remain deaf and stubborn to the teachings of Islam, the rational message of the Quran." Quoting a verse of the Quran, Hasan used the term "cattle" to describe non-believers and called them "incapable of the intellectual effort it requires to shake off those blind prejudices."^[45] In another sermon, he used the term "animals" to describe non-Muslims.^[46][47] He also included homosexuality in a list of categories which he argued were transgressive of Islam.^[46]

Quotes from these sermons were first publicized by Peter Hitchens in 2012. When Hitchens reached out to Hasan for a comment, the latter replied these remarks had "been taken wholly out of context".^[48] In 2019, Hasan apologized for these earlier statements, which he declared to "deeply regret" now, and called them "dumb", "ranty" and "offensive".^[49][50]

Israel–Hamas war

In February 2024, Hasan wrote in The Guardian that U.S. president Joe Biden should end the Gaza genocide.^[51] During an interview on Democracy Now! in late March 2024, Hasan expressed his concern about "genocide in Gaza" with regard to Israel's 2023 incursion into Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel, and that Palestinian perspectives are not shared in U.S. media.^[52] Middle East Eye reported that Hasan "challenges Piers Morgan's treatment of pro-Palestinian guests".^[53]

Abortion

Hasan was formerly against abortion, a position he has since rejected. In an October 2012 online column for the New Statesman he defended his anti-abortion views in print, writing "What I would like is for my fellow lefties and liberals to try to understand and respect the views of those of us who are pro-life".^[54] Hasan argued that the issue of abortion "is one of those rare political issues on which left and right seem to have swapped ideologies: right-wingers talk of equality, human rights and 'defending the innocent', while left-wingers fetishise 'choice', selfishness and unbridled individualism."^[54] He later expressed regret for his comments.^[55] However, the article gained much attention on Twitter^[56] and Hasan debated the issue with Suzanne Moore on BBC Radio 4's Today.^[57]

In a 2020 series of tweets, Hasan expressed regrets for "having expressed offensive & illiberal views in the past on everything from homosexuality to abortion" and stated that they were views he no longer holds.^[58]

Pakistan

Hasan has been critical of the human rights situation in Pakistan, expressing disapproval of the country's blasphemy law,^[59] as well as enforced disappearances in Balochistan. He has also criticised the human rights situation in both Indian and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and has called out alleged backing from Pakistan for terror groups like Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba to carry out attacks in the Indian-administered region.^[60]

In a May 2021 interview with CNN on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Israelis "are very influential people", adding, "I mean, they control media." Hasan tweeted during the ensuing controversy: "I see some people trying to defend the Pakistani foreign minister's remarks as anti-Israeli & not anti-Semitic but let's be clear: if you are accusing Israelis of having 'deep pockets' and 'controlling' the media, then yeah, you're invoking some pretty anti-Semitic slurs. Sorry."^[61]

Saudi Arabia

Hasan has made several statements in opposition to the Saudi government, including challenging a statement made by Donald Trump, in which he claimed that he himself had no financial interests in Saudi Arabia, an allegation which Trump called "fake news".^[62] Hasan challenged Trump's statements in a video essay published by The Intercept in October 2018.^[63]

In February 2019, during a debate organised by Intelligence Squared in London,^[64] Hasan stated that the West should cut ties with Saudi Arabia, saying: "It's time we make clear that the West needs to cut its ties with Saudi Arabia, especially military ties, arms exports, weapons, bombs."^[64]

The comments were made in response to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, allegedly ordered by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Bin Salman, as well as several human rights violations which Hasan cited as also being carried out by Saudi Arabia.^[65] Hasan had previously interviewed Khashoggi about freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia.^[66]