CNN anchor Abby Phillip issued an apology on Wednesday after facing backlash for inaccurately describing an ISIS-inspired bombing attempt in New York City as an attack against Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

During Tuesday's edition of NewsNight, Phillip introduced a segment by stating, "Two Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, says nothing, really, to condemn those comments." The remark implied the suspects targeted the mayor, New York City's first Muslim mayor, rather than the actual victims.

The incident occurred on March 7 outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor's residence on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Two Pennsylvania men, 18-year-old Emir Balat of Turkish origin and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of Afghan origin, threw homemade bombs into a crowd of anti-Muslim protesters led by far-right activist Jake Lang. The devices failed to fully detonate, resulting in no injuries. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described it as an "act of ISIS-inspired terrorism" during a March 9 press conference alongside Mamdani, who called it terrorism but praised peaceful counter-protesters.

The suspects face federal charges, including material support to a foreign terrorist organization and use of a weapon of mass destruction. Investigators found additional devices at the scene.

A guest on Phillip's show, Joe Borelli, immediately corrected her, noting the attack targeted protesters, not the mayor, and that framing it otherwise reversed the facts. The next day, Phillip issued an on-air correction: "The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS-inspired attackers were thrown into a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate, and I didn’t catch it ahead of time. I apologize for the error." She posted the same statement on X.

Criticism quickly spread online, with conservative commentators accusing Phillip of bias in downplaying the attack on anti-Islam protesters. Posts on platforms like Facebook and X claimed CNN received "tens of thousands of calls" to fire her, though the network has not confirmed such volume.

CNN also drew fire for a deleted social media post portraying the suspects as "two teens enjoying a normal day," which the network said "failed to reflect the gravity of the incident" and breached editorial standards. CNN contributor Ana Navarro later repeated a similar error, claiming the bomber targeted Mamdani.

As of Friday, CNN has not commented further on personnel actions, and the story continues to fuel debates over media coverage of terrorism.