CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan Laughs Off Troll Insulting His Height In Masterclass of Keeping Calm

(Screengrab via X)

CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan delivered a near-perfect demonstration Thursday of what happens when a troll arrives hungry for a viral hit only to discover his intended victim seems to be bemused by the shtick, leaving him performing the confrontation largely by himself.

MAGA provocateur Alex Stein approached O’Sullivan as the CNN reporter was setting up a camera at President Donald Trump’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, already filming and apparently ready for confrontation.

“Listen, why do we have a CNN midget like this here? We’ve got the corrupt news network here…” Stein began.

O’Sullivan laughed along. Then, rather than objecting to the insult, he noticed something funnier, Stein was holding his phone conspicuously above him to exaggerate their height difference.

“But you got the camera angle here,” O’Sullivan cracked, pointing up at the phone.

“I know, but you’re trying to show – I know, but look how short you are,” Stein plowed on, before asking whether O’Sullivan had come to “slander Charlie Kirk.”

O’Sullivan, still smiling and refusing to participate in the argument Stein had apparently planned for both of them, instead began to interview him.

“Tell us what are you doing here?” he asked.

That opened the floodgates as Stein unloaded a barrage of hits, repeating his “midget” line a bunch, branding the journalist a “propagandist,” accusing CNN of spewing “lies” and predicting the network would dishonestly edit their encounter.

O’Sullivan appeared unbothered, grinning politely throughout and waiting before lobbing back another question: “So when it comes to civil discourse, tell us a bit about that.”

“I love it,” Stein replied briefly, praising Kirk for having engaged in heated conversations before immediately returning to attacking CNN and telling O’Sullivan: “Like you know your ratings, Donnie, suck.”

Still no bite. In fact, the longer Stein went, the more O’Sullivan appeared to enjoy watching where the performance might go next. So as the journalist attempted another question Stein widened the aperture, moving from his target’s height to his nationality and immigration status.

“Well, just calling you out because it’s funny because you’re a midget, you work for CNN. So when I see a little midget, I call it out. And we’re going to go viral because you’re a liar and you’re Irish. You live here in America. I wish we would deport you. I can’t wait till we deport you, we need to get Donald Trump – deport this illegal immigrant. Do you have a green card?” Stein ranted, before repeating the question, this time with the strangely sincere curiosity of a man who had briefly forgotten he was doing a bit: “Do you have a green card?”

“I’m an American citizen,” O’Sullivan replied calmly.

Stein was undeterred, launching into a riff about “these Irish immigrants” coming to America to “steal your jobs,” before cycling through “Corrupt News Network,” “Clinton News Network,” “CNN sucks” and “Donie sucks.”

By this point, the emotional roles in the confrontation had become oddly inverted. The man being insulted was smiling while the man delivering the insults appeared increasingly exercised by his inability to provoke him.

He continued: “And I’m happy that you’re here, Cause I mean, listen. You guys need the ratings and ‘Primetime 99 Alex Stein’ delivers the ratings that CNN needs. That’s why they’re here covering your boy. So I’m excited for you to be here. I think it’s gonna be a great event.

O’Sullivan, having spent several minutes almost fascinated as Stein exhausted his repertoire into his own phone, wrapped up the encounter with three words: “Alright, civil discourse.”

“Let’s do it. Let’s go. Nice to meet you, Donie,” Stein quipped.

And with that, the confrontation ended, leaving Stein with plenty of footage but perhaps not quite the viral takedown he had arrived to film.

That impression did not exactly disappear afterward. When Stein later promoted the clip on X with the boast he’d been out there “confronting CNN Goblin Donie O’Sullivan,” the journalist replied: “it’s all about the friends you make along the way.”

And when another user weighed in, O’Sullivan offered an even shorter postmortem on the encounter: “Short kings ftw.”

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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