Social media is criticizing CNN’s documentary on the suspects charged in the NYC bombings

CNN is facing backlash on social media over a deleted article on Tuesday’s X about a “Pennsylvania teenager” accused of throwing bombs at a protest near Gracie Mansion in New York City on Saturday.

“Two young Pennsylvanians landed in New York City Saturday morning for what would have been a typical day of enjoying the city during the unusually warm weather,” the post read. “But in less than an hour, their lives would change dramatically as the two would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside 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, where police say they set fires and threw explosives into a crowd of people protesting outside the mayor’s office. Zohran Mamdania place to live.

Federal prosecutors have charged the suspects with providing apparent support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.

The post has now been removed. CNN followed this explanation to X: “The article about the two people arrested for throwing improvised explosive devices outside the home of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani failed to show the seriousness of the incident and thus violated the editorial standards we require in all our reporting. Therefore it has been deleted.”

Social media users were quick to call out CNN’s “strange” framing of the incident, which failed to mention the words “terror” or “terrorists” in any of its posts.

“This is a weird draft,” wrote reviewer Tim Carney in X. “Left-leaning supermarkets hate this story, but they know they can’t ignore it, so they’re going in weird ways.”

Deputy editor of Jewish News UK, Daniel Sugarman, noted that the post would have been “very strange” even if it had been written the day after the attack, but “given everything we know now about this. [two] people and their motivations, it’s a journalist’s injustice.”

“Wow. ISIS-inspired perpetrators are committing an actual act of terrorism, and this is what CNN comes up with?” The media watchdog group HonestReporting asks. “Oh, those poor ‘Pennsylvania teenagers’, whose lives have been ‘drastically changed’ because they made the rational decision to drop the bombs. When will the media stop using narratives to promote ideologically driven criminals?”

“Who writes this rubbish?” Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., wrote in X. “They are radical Islamic terrorists.”

Journalist Scot Bertram teased the article by rewriting it to reflect the events of September 11, 2001: “19 men arrived at East Coast airports Tuesday morning on what would have been an ordinary day enjoying a cross-country flight. But in less than an hour, their lives would change dramatically.”

RedState columnist Bonchie argued that CNN is doing “everything they can to make these Islamists. [seem] like lost victims.”

“I really don’t understand this CNN frame,” wrote News2Share editor-in-chief Ford Fischer. “Can’t anyone who does something life-changing have a ‘normal day’ if they don’t do that thing?”

“Man you just hate it when two young people, who were enjoying the warm weather, turn their lives upside down because they accidentally brought a homemade bomb that could have killed a lot of people,” quipped Barstool Sports content creator Jack Mac. “Wow! I committed terrorism! I can’t believe my life has changed!”

When reached for comment about the now-deleted post, CNN referred Fox News Digital to its new statement on X.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Greg Wehner and CB Cotton contributed to this report.