WABC Radio CEO Defends Decision To Drop Rudy Giuliani From Airwaves

deadline.com:

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.