The fallout of the decision by 77 WABC owner John Catsimatidis to cancel The Rudy Giuliani Show continues, with the billionaire defending himself from criticism by the former New York Mayor.

Giuliani’s afternoon show was ended Friday after he continually refused to adhere to company policies regarding discussions around the validity of the 2020 presidential election. A former attorney for former President Donald Trump, Giuliani has maintained that the election was rigged against his former boss and was not fairly won by Joe Biden. He is facing charges in both Georgia and Arizona for his attempts to overturn election results in those states.

On Sunday morning, Catsimatidis appeared on the New York news/talk station to discuss the situation with hosts Dominic Carter and Curtis Sliwa. He shared that lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems — who secured a $787.5 million settlement from Fox News in 2023 — had contacted the company saying that Newsmax argued that if it was going to be sued by the election machine company, WABC should also be a potential target.

John Catsimatidis revealed the company implemented a policy station it would not talk about Dominion, or any electronic voting machine companies, and has not revised that policy since.

He then shared that Giuliani — who has filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $150 million to two former Georgia election officials for defamation — had given the company an ultimatum.

“On Thursday night, Rudy gave us an ultimatum saying ‘You gotta double my hours or else.’ Between the ultimatum and his attempt to talk about the electronic voting machines, management made a decision on Friday to suspend him for the day until we have time to sit down and discuss things,” Catsimatidis revealed. “We always discuss things here internally.”

The owner then said either he misspoke or The New York Times misquoted him Friday, as he said the initial decision was simply to suspend Rudy Giuliani, not cancel his program. However, when the former New York Mayor took to social media to denounce Catsimatidis, Red Apple Media, and 77 WABC leaders, he decided to permanently end the program.

In a statement provided to Barrett News Media by a company spokesperson, John Catsmiatidis argued it appeared as if Rudy Giuliani was attempting to force the company to suspend or fire him.

“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.”

On MSNBC last week, host Alex Wagner argued that statements made by Donald Trump’s legal team aren’t prevalent in journalism. Megyn Kelly believes Wagner is ignorant about the real operations of her own network.

During The Megyn Kelly Show, the former NBC News host said the network uses the same strategies that the National Enquirer used to help Donald Trump in 2016.

“The media started to sneer at the National Enquirer’s tactics, and I’m not defending their tactics. We all know what the National Enquirer is and what it does, but I made the point at the time that their sanctimony was a bit misplaced, because I knew very well — from my time over in broadcast news and cable for that matter — that these networks, especially the big ones, also pay for stories,” said Kelly.

“They may go out there on the air and act holier than thou, ‘We would never do that. We’d never pay for a story.’ What they do, and I said at the time, you know how they do it. They pay ‘licensing fees’ for somebody’s exclusive photos. And it’s just a backdoor scuzzy way of doing what you’re not allowed to do through the front door.”

Kelly then aired a clip of Wagner suggesting that asking people to sign non-disclosure agreements, utilizing a “catch-and-kill” PR strategy, and paying sources for stories does not happen. “That is not how the world works,” she suggested.

“She is clueless. NDAs happen all the time, especially at NBC. Some of the people on this panel may have had to sign one, I’m just saying,” Kelly, the former NBC News host, said. “And I could give you a long list of women who have been silenced by NBC News, her news organization, because of what her male colleagues have done, alright? So wake up, sweetheart. Read a newspaper every once in a while instead of struggling on a teleprompter like you always do.”

On Friday, 77 WABC owner John Catsimatidis canceled The Rudy Giuliani Show after the former New York Mayor and lawyer for Donald Trump refused to cease talking about the validity of the 2020 election.

The former New York news/talk host took to social media to blast the billionaire after his show’s cancellation.

“What John Catsimatidis has done is disgraceful,” Giuliani said during his America’s Mayor Live video show. “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 respect for free speech.”

Catsimatidis told The New York Times he had repeatedly informed Giuliani that he could not make false claims about the validity of the election that saw Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump. Giuliani informed the station owner that he was not willing to comply with the mandate, resulting in his suspension and subsequent cancellation.

“Isn’t it a hell of a time to stop me from doing what I’ve been doing for three and a half years – just when they may be preparing to steal another election?,” Giuliani posited during the program.

In a statement to The Independent, Rudy Giuliani argued that 77 WABC ending his show was a “clear violation of free speech”.