Male CNN guest sparks furious sexism debate by calling female host a pet name

A male guest was admonished live on air after calling a woman 'dear' during a heated debate about Matt Gaetz.

Bruce LeVell, National Diversity Coalition executive director during Donald Trump's presidency, was arguing with Democratic strategist Julie Roginksy on CNN.

The pair were at odds over the strength of sex trafficking claims against Gaetz that forced him to withdraw from being Trump's attorney-general pick on Thursday.

Geatz was investigated by the Department of Justice after a 17-year-old girl claimed she was trafficked to have sex with the former congressman in 2017.

LeVell noted the DoJ decided not to press charges against Gaetz, saying the investigation found there 'was nothing there'.

But Roginksy insisted that didn't mean the alleged misconduct didn't happen.

'They said they didn't have enough to indict - that shouldn't be the standard,' Roginksy said.

'No, to charge, dear,' LeVell shot back, throwing the panel into uproar.

'Dear? Excuse me? Well thank you for the misogyny,' Roginksy replied, before host Abby Phillip stepped in to dress LeVell down.

'I'm just going to stop it right here because we're not going to get off on a wrong foot. Please do not address a grown woman as dear in a condescending tone, do not do that at my table. You can continue,' she said.

LeVell looked embarrassed as Phillip admonished him, but did not say anything beyond 'OK' and the panel moved on.

The exchange happened during CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip on Wednesday, but sparked outrage online after it was later posted on social media.

Gaetz was also investigated by the House Ethics Committee over the sex trafficking claim and other alleged misconduct.

He resigned from Congress after Trump nominated him for attorney-general, days before the committee's report was due, meaning it may never see the light of day.

Phillip has been more proactive about stepping into heated discussions on her show since kicking out a guest last month.

Republican commentator Ryan Girdusky disappeared from the panel after telling 'I hope your beeper doesn't go off' to Muslim panelist Mehdi Hasan.

His joke was in reference to Mossad's operation to assassinate Hezbollah members by detonating explosives hidden in their pagers, that killed 42 people in Lebanon.

'Did your guest just say I should be killed on live TV?' Hasan asked Phillip, and CNN abruptly cut to advertising.

When the show returned, Girdusky was gone and Phillip read out an apology. Girdusky was banned from appearing on CNN again.