{"id":98092,"date":"2026-01-13T01:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T01:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98092\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T01:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T01:22:13","slug":"exclusive-john-catsimatidis-talks-bitter-breakup-with-rudy-giuliani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98092\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | John Catsimatidis talks bitter breakup with Rudy Giuliani"},"content":{"rendered":"

Influential billionaire John Catsimatidis said he\u2019s been left with \u201ctears in my eyes\u201d amid a bitter feud with his longtime \u201cbrother\u201d Rudy Giuliani \u2014 that escalated when the former mayor filed suit against him Monday.<\/p>\n

Catsimatidis told The Post that news of Giuliani\u2019s lawsuit over his firing from his WABC radio gig in 2024<\/a> upset him after years of supporting the former mayor even during recent, troubling times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very, very disappointed in my friend right now,\u201d Catsimatidis, whose Red Apple Media\u00a0group owns the local radio station, said right before going on air Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have tears in my eyes. I always supported him during his tough times,\u201d the grocery store mogul said. <\/p>\n

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is suing his former radio boss, John Catsimatidis. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump couldn\u2019t help him, he was out of office,\u201d Catsimatidis added, referring to Giuliani\u2019s legal nightmare following the 2020 election, where the former mayor went from being a millionaire to doing paid social media appearances on the \u201cCameo\u201d app.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the one who helped him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One insider told The Post that when the former mayor was \u201cnearly homeless in New York City, there was one person \u2014 his best friend \u2014 who was there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of giving him a gift for his friendship,\u201d the insider quipped, \u201che gives him a lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did nothing wrong,\u201d local billionaire John Catsimatidis told The Post. \u201cWe\u2019ll go to court. Let the judge decide.\u201d James Keivom<\/p>\n

Catsimatidis publicly\u00a0said Giuliani was taken off the air in May 2024<\/a> for going on rants claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.<\/p>\n

But Giuliani claims in his new lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, that he was really fired for standing up for his beleaguered co-host, Dr. Maria Ryan, who sued Catsimatidis for wage-based sex discrimination in late 2024.<\/p>\n

His lawsuit goes in tandem with the one filed<\/a> by his rumored paramour, Ryan, who hosted a WABC show with Giuliani and claimed she was sexually discriminated against and paid a pittance \u2014 only $200 per show \u2014compared to other hosts, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI complained to the station for some time that Dr. Maria was paid less than men,\u201d Giuliani told The Post, claiming that he was pushed out as a result.<\/p>\n

Maria Ryan has denied a romantic relationship with Giuliani.
Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should treat women the same way he treats men,\u201d he said of his longtime friend Catsimatidis. \u201cThere was definitely a hostility in the workplace toward women. They would complain to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But distraught Catsimatidis insisted that \u201cwe did nothing wrong\u201d as he mourned the souring of his years-long relationship with the ex-mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll go to court. Let the judge decide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t fire him \u2014 we suspended him pending a cooling off period, Friday to Monday,\u201d Catsimatidis added. \u201cHe just didn\u2019t come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan claims in her own suit that she was sexually discriminated against \u2014 and paid a pittance compared to other hosts at Catsimatidis\u2019 WABC station \u2014 only $200 per show. X\/@MariaRyanNH<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn would never get rid of him,\u201d one source said. \u201cHe treated him like a brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catsimatidis appeared blindsided at the news of the suit by his longtime friend, adding that when he last saw him, at a Mar-a-Lago dinner six months ago, \u201cI gave him a hug, and he accepted it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ryan was at the same dinner, but Catsimatidis said the two didn\u2019t share any pleasantries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think she likes us very much,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two things that lead to his downfall,\u201d the source said of Giuliani: \u201calcohol and women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he were still married to Donna Hanover, he\u2019d be president today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Influential billionaire John Catsimatidis said he\u2019s been left with \u201ctears in my eyes\u201d amid a bitter feud with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68,8305,2850,4327,57,9,24,55,54,56,14738,58,9797],"class_list":["post-98092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-exclusive","tag-john-catsimatidis","tag-lawsuits","tag-manhattan-supreme-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-rudy-giuliani","tag-us-news","tag-wabc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}