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Saturday, May 11, 2024

NYC Radio: WABC Suspends Rudy Giulani For 'Stolen' Election Rant


Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was suspended without pay from his Talk Radio 77WABC radio show Thursday for ranting about the “stolen” 2020 election — deepening the legally embattled ex-lawyer’s financial woes.

In a further fall from grace, the bankrupt, twice-indicted ex-attorney for Donald Trump was yanked from the air by billionaire supermarket mogul and radio station owner John Catsimatidis, The NY Post is reporting

“He did it to himself,” Catsimatidis told The Post on Friday.

“I thought he was a great mayor for the city of New York so I always try to support him. But you can’t cross the line.”

Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani, 79, went on a “stolen election” tirade during the final three minutes of “The Rudy Giuliani Show” Thursday, violating a company-wide policy “not to state, suggest or imply that the election results are not valid,” according to Catsimatidis, who runs Red Apple Media.

Catsimatidis said he had sent Giuliani a letter warning him that he’s “prohibited from engaging in conversations relating to the 2020 Presidential Election” — prompting the disgraced mayor to allegedly fire off a defiant text to the billionaire.

“Please understand I am disregarding every order given in this letter,” he purportedly texted after his show.

Catsimatidis said he fired back Friday afternoon, “I’ve got to take you off the syndicated network effective immediately.”

“Does that mean you’re firing me?” Giuliani asked — to which Catsimatidis had not yet responded as of Friday evening.

Giuliani told The Post he had no idea the company policy existed, claiming he’s been talking about the 2020 election on the air for the past three years. “They don’t want me to say it’s stolen, they don’t want me to talk about the election at all. It’s so broad,” he said.

The NY Times reports Catsimatidis said the former mayor earned a percentage of the show’s advertising revenue, rather than a salary. The Times reported last year that Mr. Giuliani earned roughly $400,000 a year from WABC; more recent court filings suggested he was losing money on the endeavor.

Catsimatidis has his own long history with Trump, who continues to insist that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him. He hosted the former president on WABC in 2022, and was recently listed as a co-chair of a major fund-raiser in Palm Beach, Fla., last month for Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee.

But at a time when other conservative media outlets have been sued for defamation related to false claims about the 2020 election, Mr. Catsimatidis appears to have grown increasingly concerned that Mr. Giuliani’s continued presence on air could put WABC in legal jeopardy.

Giuliani says that he still has shows on X and on Newsmax that generate income.

Hailed as “America’s Mayor” in the 9/11-era, Giuliani now faces a mountain of legal bills to fight criminal cases in Arizona and Georgia, where he was charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election.

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