Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney waves to the crowd with vice presidential runningmate Rep. Paul Ryan (L) after accepting the nomination during the final session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 30, 2012 REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES

Two people were ejected from the Republican National Convention when they threw nuts at a black CNN camera woman and said “this is how we feed animals,” the network said Wednesday.

“CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum” on Tuesday, the opening day of a gala at which former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will accept his party’s nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in November’s election.

“CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.”

Several witnesses observed the exchange, CNN reported, and convention security personnel immediately removed the two people from the forum.

The convention confirmed the incident in a statement late Tuesday.

“Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated,” organizers said.

The incident is surely not what Republicans wanted 10 weeks out from the election. Romney has struggled to attract African American voters as well as Hispanics, and he is also on the wrong side of the gender gap, with polls consistently showing women voters preferring Obama to Romney.

Current TV journalist and talk radio host David Shuster first tweeted about the incident Tuesday night.

“GOP attendee ejected for throwing nuts at African American CNN camera woman + saying ‘This is how we feed animals,'” Shuster posted on Twitter.

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