WABC ya! Cats cuts rantin’ Rudy
Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani was suspended without pay from his WABC radio show for ranting about the “stolen” 2020 election — deepening the legally embattled ex-lawyer’s financial woes, The Post has learned.
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 WABC owner John Catsimatidis.
“He did it to himself,” Catsimatidis told The Post 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.”
Giuliani, 79, went on a “stolen election” tirade during the final three minutes of “The Rudy Giuliani Show” Thursday, violating a companywide 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 network effective immediately.”
“Does that mean you’re firing me?” Giuliani asked — to which
Catsimatidis had not yet responded as of Friday evening.
On his “America’s Mayor Live” show on X Friday night, he blasted Catsimatidis for “firing” him to appease “trailer trash little creep” President Biden — while accusing the station of harboring a hostile work environment.
First Amendment issue
“What John Catsimatidis has done is disgraceful. With the pretense that he was building some kind of a First Amendment station, he blew a hole in the First Amendment that’s so big you can’t even find it. You can’t tell somebody not to talk about the 2020 presidential election and tell me that you have a respect for free speech,” Giuliani said.
“I had no choice but to suspend him. What media company wouldn’t suspend him based on that?” Catsimatidis told The Post after Giuliani’s X rant.
“I said to him, ‘you’re suspended, let’s sit down and talk on Monday,’ and he went berserk on us.”
The mogul said that once they told the ex-mayor he wasn’t allowed to go on the air for his 3 p.m. show, he became “belligerent.”
Asked whether Giuliani’s actions after learning of his suspension could lead to him being fired, Catsimatidis said, “We’re meeting on Monday to decide what our next step is. Most likely the suspension will be permanent based on what he’s doing tonight.”
Giuliani told The Post he had no idea the company policy existed, claiming he’s been talking about the 2020 election on air for the past three years. “It is a blow to me. Absolutely,” he said of losing the job. “This is a major screwing!”
Giuliani said he was making $15,000 a month from working at WABC, adding: “He was paying me what I would regard as peanuts.”
Giuliani said he still has shows on X and on Newsmax that generate income.