Rudy Giuliani locked in ugly stalemate with WABC boss Catsimatidis as ex-mayor’s future at station uncertain
The multi-day public squabble between Rudy Giuliani and WABC owner John Catsimatidis showed no signs of abating Monday as details emerged about the former mayor’s diva-like demands and repeated refusal to heed station policies leading to last week’s suspension of his daily radio show.
The former New York City mayor spent the weekend assailing the billionaire station boss’s free speech credentials and accusing him of being in the tank for President Biden and the Democrats. Meanwhile, Catsimatidis fired back that Giuliani had gone rogue, defying direct orders while issuing a series of demands for more money and more airtime.
“Last Tuesday, May 7, Mayor Giuliani gave me an ultimatum. He texted me that I had to double his airtime and compensation by May 28,” Catsimatidis said in a statement Monday afternoon.
“I told him I wanted to sit down in person to discuss this. He repeated his demand on Wednesday, May 8.”
The very next day, WABC management caught wind through a Bloomberg report that Giuliani had planned to double down on his “defamatory” comments about the Georgia election workers on social media, which Catsimatidis said resulted in additional filings being brought against the ex-mayor by plaintiffs in the suit.
Concerned that Giuliani would raise the issue again during his show on Thursday, Catsimatidis sent a letter reminding him of the policy “in an effort to protect the station” from being dragged into litigation over his false election claims.
“I sent Rudy a letter reminding him not to speak about the legitimacy of the election results on our air, yet just hours later, during his 3:00 p.m. show that day, he did just that,” said Catsimatidis.
As Giuliani launched into the topic of voting machines near the end of the broadcast, the station cut his audio and abruptly pulled the program off the air.
“This is when Rudy issued me a second ultimatum,” Catsimatidis wrote in his statement, saying the former “America’s mayor” shot back via text that he planned on “disregarding every order given” in Thursday’s letter.
In an attempt to ease tensions, the Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets CEO said he texted Giuliani Friday morning saying, “Rudy, I love you. I’ve supported you for 40 years. I look forward to sitting down together one on one.”
But the former mayor rebuffed the olive branch, responding that he would continue to blow off the letter.
In light of his ultimatum and continued refusal to abide by company policy, WABC suspended Giuliani from his $15,000-per-month gig on Friday pending further discussions.
“I said to him, you’re suspended, let’s sit down and talk on Monday, and then he went berserk on us,” Catsimatidis told The Post Friday.
The former mayor spent the weekend on the offensive, airing his grievances on his “America’s Mayor Live” show on X and other internet programs and claiming he was altogether fired.
“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,” he said during one of his tirades.
Catsimatidis called the series of outbursts “an attempt to deflect from his own conduct on WABC,” accusing his longtime friend of mischaracterizing the station’s concerns.
“Rudy has publicly accused me of suppressing his free speech, calling my decision ‘unconstitutional’ and a violation of the First Amendment. However, as a licensee of the FCC, the First Amendment grants me the rights and responsibilities to protect WABC,” the mogul said in his statement.
“Each decision I make is guided by what I believe best serves the station, our listeners, and above all, the truth.”
Speaking on the air Sunday during what had been the scheduled time slot for “The Rudy Giuliani Show” on WABC, Catsimatidis said, “what happened last week was very tragic.”
“When I hired Rudy I got a lot of criticism,” Catsimatidis said, referring to the controversy surrounding the ex-mayor and former federal prosecutor, including an FBI probe. “In this country, you’re innocent until proven guilty.”
He said he thought Giuliani had been a great mayor and considered the falling-out sad.
In a post on X Monday afternoon, the former mayor said he had been “fired” from WABC, a claim Catsimatidis disputed.
“I never fire anybody without having a sit down, and an understanding of what went wrong,” the billionaire told The Post.
Giuliani has dug in as one of the loudest proponents of debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Over the years, he’s frequently used his WABC platform to traffic in conspiracy theories about the Trump vs. Biden contest, even after the station said on-air talent was not allowed to “state, suggest or imply that the election results are not valid or that the election is not over.”
Last December, Giuliani was ordered to pay $148 million to two Atlanta election workers he falsely accused of ballot fraud. He filed for bankruptcy soon after.
In April, an Arizona grand jury indicted him along with several others for their alleged roles in a plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Giuliani did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
