Muslim broadcaster Mehdi Hasan is under fire after saying that if Christians in the United States can ring church bells, Muslims should also be allowed to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer. “If you can have your church bell, we can have our Islamic prayer call. We are as American as anyone else, and don’t take B.S. from anyone,” Hasan said.

In many American cities, calls to prayer are allowed, as they are in New York City, so it’s unclear where he thought these were banned. The Muslim call to prayer happens five times per day, per loudspeaker, at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset, and nightfall.

The statement triggered swift reaction online, including from Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, who wrote, “Christianity built this country. Islam did not at all in even the slightest way. That’s why we can have our church bells, you ungrateful little bitch.”

Hasan responded to Walsh by posting, “Spoken like a true Christian and follower of Jesus.”

The exchange followed a viral appearance by Hasan at the “No Kings” rally in Washington, DC, where he criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and remarks about illegal immigrants. “My name is Mehdi Hasan. I am a journalist. I am an immigrant, and I am a Muslim. I am everything Donald Trump loves,” he said at the start of his speech.

“Donald Trump is the son of an immigrant, the grandson of an immigrant, and married to an immigrant,” Hasan continued. “In fact, two of his three wives were immigrants, proving yet again that immigrants will do the jobs even Americans are not willing to do.”

Hasan moved to the US from the UK and starred in MSNBC’s The Mehdi Hasan Show before it was canceled in January 2024. He later founded the digital media outlet Zeteo. He told the crowd he attended the rally out of appreciation for his adopted country, claiming he loved it more than Americans who were born in the nation. “We immigrants love this country often more than the people born here because we chose to move here,” he said. “Immigrants will do the jobs that even Americans are not willing to do.”

Gunther Eagleman, a right-wing influencer, wrote that “foreigners like Hasan pose a direct danger to American society,” and called for his deportation. Another commentator, Eric Daugherty, stated, “Islam has no place in America. Neither does Mehdi Hasan.”

Texas Rep. Brandon Gill had a heated exchange with Hasan, first paraphrasing Hasan’s ask for Muslim calls to prayer as: “We can move here en masse and fundamentally transform the landscape of American public life.” Hasan replied that Gill’s wife, daughter of Dinesh D’Souza, is the daughter of an Indian immigrant. “My wife is a Christian,” said Gill, “and doesn’t want to hear your oppressive Muslim prayer calls, either. If you want to live in a Muslim country, go back to the UK.”

In response to the attacks, Hasan claimed, “I’m more American than you, so cry more.”