Rudy Giuliani slams radio station live on air for adding disclaimer to his show: ‘We’re not in East Germany’

Former mayor says it was 'insulting' for station to add disclaimer to his show as he faces multiple billion-dollar lawsuits for spreading conspiracy theories

Rudy Giuliani’s conspiracy theories will now come with a lengthy disclaimer for listeners of his daily afternoon show on New York’s 77 Talk Radio WABC.

The former New York City mayor and personal lawyer to former President Donald Trump sounded furious on Thursday when he seemingly discovered the station would begin airing the disclaimer before his afternoon programmes just as he was going live. 

The disclaimer said the “views, assumptions and opinions” expressed by Mr Giuliani and his guests “are strictly their own” and “do not necessarily represent” that of the station or its advertisers. 

Appearing surprised, Mr Giuliani responded on air. “I would have thought they would have told me about that before just doing what they just did. Rather insulting,” he said.

“Gives you a sense of how far this free speech thing has gone, and how they frighten everybody” the former mayor continued. “I mean, we’re in America, we’re not in East Germany.”

He added: “They’ve got to warn you about me? I’m going to have to give that a lot of consideration. I also think putting it on without telling me ― not the right thing to do. Not the right thing to do at all.”

Mr Giuliani’s reaction was immediately followed by a guest phone call he took during the show from a listener who asked if he ever felt “guilty about spreading a lot of unproven conspiracy theories to folks who may not have the ability or the critical thinking skills to look through” his claims. 

The disclaimer came hours after it was reported Mr Giuliani was named in a $2.7 billion libel suit — one of the largest of its kind — filed by Smartmatic USA, a voting technology company which operated systems used in Los Angeles county, California during the 2020 elections. 

That lawsuit — which followed a separate $1.3 billion lawsuit filed by another voting tech company, Dominion Voting Systems — argued Mr Giuliani took part in a “disinformation campaign” to support the former president’s false claims of rampant voter fraud, along with attorney Sidney Powell and Fox News, both of which were also named in the suit. 

"Defendants' story was a lie," the complaint read. "But it was a story that sold."