CNN Anchor Walks Off Set Mid Interview

CNN’s International Anchor Christiane Amanpour walked off her interview with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.

The reason why Christiane walked off set was due to the fact that Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi demanded that she wear a head scarf.

Around 40 minutes prior to the interview, Christiane was notified by one offer aide that in order to conduct the interview she would have to wear a head scarf due to due to it being the religious months of Muharram and Safar.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi withdrew from a long-planned interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour after she declined a last-minute demand to wear a head scarf. https://t.co/N91gtZ0OXq

— CNN International (@cnni) September 22, 2022

And so we walked away. The interview didn’t happen. As protests continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would have been an important moment to speak with President Raisi. 7/7 pic.twitter.com/kMFyQY99Zh

— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022

Conservative Brief had these details to share:

CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour says she walked out of an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in New York City after she refused his request to wear a headscarf.

In a lengthy thread posted on Twitter, Amanpour explained how the interview was slated to be Raisi’s first on U.S. soil and that she had planned to ask him a slew of important questions.

But about 40 minutes before the interview was set to begin, Amanpour said an aide approached her and suggested she wear a headscarf due to it being the holy months of Muharram and Safar.

Amanpour said she declined the request given that an Iranian president has never required this of her in past interviews held outside of Iran.

Previously CNN anchors had no problem with wearing a hijab.

Here is a picture of CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward:

CNN's Clarissa Ward departs Afghanistan after Taliban coverage https://t.co/3bAORIUgxY pic.twitter.com/Qxo0I4xl20

— The Hill (@thehill) August 21, 2021

CNN had more on the story:

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi withdrew from a long-planned interview with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, after she declined a last-minute demand to wear a head scarf.

Some 40 minutes after the interview was scheduled due to start and with Raisi running late, an aide told Amanpour the president had suggested that she wear a head scarf. Amanpour said that she “politely declined.”

Amanpour, who grew up in the Iranian capital Tehran and is a fluent Farsi speaker, said that she wears a head scarf while reporting in Iran to comply with the local laws and customs, “otherwise you couldn’t operate as a journalist.” But she said that she would not cover her head to conduct an interview with an Iranian official outside a country where it is not required.