Influential billionaire John Catsimatidis said he’s been left with “tears in my eyes” amid a bitter feud with his longtime “brother” Rudy Giuliani — that escalated when the former mayor filed suit against him Monday.
Catsimatidis told The Post that news of Giuliani’s lawsuit over his firing from his WABC radio gig in 2024 upset him after years of supporting the former mayor even during recent, troubling times.
“I’m very, very disappointed in my friend right now,” Catsimatidis, whose Red Apple Media group owns the local radio station, said right before going on air Monday night.
“I have tears in my eyes. I always supported him during his tough times,” the grocery store mogul said.
“President Trump couldn’t help him, he was out of office,” Catsimatidis added, referring to Giuliani’s legal nightmare following the 2020 election, where the former mayor went from being a millionaire to doing paid social media appearances on the “Cameo” app.
“I’m the one who helped him,” he said.
One insider told The Post that when the former mayor was “nearly homeless in New York City, there was one person — his best friend — who was there for him.”
“Instead of giving him a gift for his friendship,” the insider quipped, “he gives him a lawsuit.”
Catsimatidis publicly said Giuliani was taken off the air in May 2024 for going on rants claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
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.
His lawsuit goes in tandem with the one filed by his rumored paramour, Ryan, who hosted a WABC show with Giuliani and claimed she was sexually discriminated against and paid a pittance — only $200 per show —compared to other hosts, according to court filings.
“I complained to the station for some time that Dr. Maria was paid less than men,” Giuliani told The Post, claiming that he was pushed out as a result.
Dennis A. Clark
“He should treat women the same way he treats men,” he said of his longtime friend Catsimatidis. “There was definitely a hostility in the workplace toward women. They would complain to me.”
But distraught Catsimatidis insisted that “we did nothing wrong” as he mourned the souring of his years-long relationship with the ex-mayor.
“We’ll go to court. Let the judge decide,” he said.
“We didn’t fire him — we suspended him pending a cooling off period, Friday to Monday,” Catsimatidis added. “He just didn’t come back.”
“John would never get rid of him,” one source said. “He treated him like a brother.”
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, “I gave him a hug, and he accepted it.”
Ryan was at the same dinner, but Catsimatidis said the two didn’t share any pleasantries.
“I don’t think she likes us very much,” he said.
“The two things that lead to his downfall,” the source said of Giuliani: “alcohol and women.”
“If he were still married to Donna Hanover, he’d be president today.”
