The CEO of WABC in New York said that Rudy Giuliani was removed from the station after being repeatedly warned about not discussing unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
In a lengthy statement on what happened, John Catsimatidis, the owner of the station and a Republican donor, said, “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. Each decision I make is guided by what I believe best serves the station, our listeners, and above all, the truth.”
In the statement, Catsimatidis said that in January, 2021, WABC received notice from Dominion Voting Systems, the election company that has filed a series of defamation lawsuits against major media outlets as well as Giuliani over false claims that it was involved in rigging the 2020 election. WABC was not sued, but Fox was, and last year agreed to a $787.5 million settlement with the company.
Catsimatidis said, “Our lawyers came to the decision, in order to protect the station, to direct all on-air talent ‘not to state, suggest or imply that the election results are not valid or that the election is not over.’ This has remained the policy of the station ever since and is wholly consistent with industry-wide policies.”
After Giuliani’s show was dropped last week, he wrote on X/Twitter that he was fired “for refusing to be censored about the 2020 Presidential Election.”
Giuliani continues to have a show on X/Twitter, and on Sunday criticized the station and claimed that it was trying to issue an overly broad ban on talk about the 2020 election. He said that what he agreed to was not to bring up Dominion Voting Systems, but claimed that he did not agree to discuss other claims about the election.
Giuliani said that he had “inadvertently used Dominion three or four times, each time apologized and tried to remember that I was on the censorship station and not the usual thing that I am used to, an American station that allows me to say anything and then people can just mute it if it is untrue.”
Yet Catsimatidis said that Giuliani “was also warned numerous times, particularly in the past few months, to refrain from any allegations of electronic voting manipulation surrounding the 2020 election.”
In December, a jury awarded two Georgia election workers $148 million in their defamation lawsuit against Giuliani, who had falsely claimed that they were involved in efforts to rig the state’s results in 2020.
Catsimatidis said that on Thursday, management was made aware of a Bloomberg News report that Giuliani has continued to make the claims about the election workers, leading to additional filings in their lawsuit. “I sent Rudy a letter reminding him not to speak about the legitimacy of the election results on our air,” Catsimatidis said. “Yet just hours later, during his 3:00 pm show that day, he did just that.”
Giuliani, he said, continued to say that he would disregard instructions about not talking about voting machines.
“Given his recent ultimatum, his direct violation of an agreement he signed to not talk about electronic voting machines, and his absolute refusal to abide by company policy, the company had no choice but to suspend him last Friday, pending further discussions,” Catsimatidis wrote. “All we wanted to do was suspend him until we could have a sit-down meeting in person, as I communicated with him. However, his actions this weekend appeared to be an attempt to force my hand.”
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