Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs
He may be the world’s most forgiving billionaire.
One-time WABC radio host Maria Ryan, a long-rumored paramour of Rudy Giuliani, is suing radio boss John Catsimatidis, claiming his station fired her and the former mayor for standing up against gender discrimination.
But the supermarket mogul still considers Giuliani, a fellow heavywieght in NYC’s GOP, his friend.
“I have always admired Rudy Giuliani,” said Catsimatidis, who called him “one of America’s greatest mayors ever.”
Ryan filed a lawsuit Saturday against WABC and Catsimatidis, even as the businessman is negotiating a new deal with Giuliani’s son Andrew, also a WABC host.
Catsimatidis said he and Giuliani still talk, despite the conflict at WABC.
“I have nothing against him,” he told The Post.
“We fight every 30 years.”
Ryan, a former hospital CEO who worked at the station from 2021 until she was fired in May, said she repeatedly went to WABC President Chad Lopez with her discrimination concerns, only to have him blame Catsimatidis.
Ryan, 60, said she initially worked without pay and then was given a paltry $200 a show for “Uncovering the Truth,” which she and Giuliani hosted on Sundays.
The pay rate was below male counterparts, she said in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
The certified nurse practitioner was also forced to provide “all four of her degrees to Lopez to validate her credentials as a ‘real’ medical provider, an experience that was both humiliating and demoralizing,” she said in the legal papers.
She was also falsely accused of playing unauthorized music on the show and claims bosses threatened to remove her because she mentioned Newsmax on the air — breaking an “unwritten” rule, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court filing.
“I went to Chad Lopez and said, ‘I feel like this is a hostile work environment. My opinion isn’t valued,’” she told The Post.
She is suing Catsimatidis, Lopez and the station for gender discrimination and unspecified damages.
Catsimatidis rejected the claims outright.
“Rudy Giuliani, one of America’s greatest mayors ever, asked WABC to hire Dr. Maria Ryan to assist Rudy with his weekly radio show, and WABC agreed. Maria was not treated differently than any other WABC employee,” he told The Post.
“WABC radio show paid Maria appropriately, and she never complained to WABC that she was not paid properly because she was a woman. WABC has a proud history of incredible on-air talent, both men and women. Any allegation that women at WABC – on-air talent or otherwise – are treated differently than men is false.”
Catsimatidis added that Giuliani was “suspended from the air on a Friday for disregarding WABC instructions about what was appropriate to discuss on the air. WABC asked Rudy to come to a meeting the following Monday to discuss the matter. He never came to meet. As a result, we ended Maria’s contract with WABC per the agreement.
“It was an unfortunate end to their time at WABC, and certainly not how we hoped Rudy’s time at WABC would end. We continue to think very highly of Rudy,” the statement said. “WABC denies all the allegations of wrongdoing alleged in this court complaint. We look forward to defending ourselves and for the public to learn the truth about what actually happened.”
Ryan, who came to prominence speaking out against the Centers for Disease Control’s handling of the pandemic, said she stuck with the station without voicing her concerns for as long as she could.
“It was hard for me to even reach out to a lawyer because I was embarrassed, because I took it for so long,” she said.
“I would never tell my granddaughters to do that. I would never tell my employees that. Here I am the one experiencing this and I don’t even know how to handle it.”
She rejected rumors she and Giuliani were romantically involved.
“It’s very insulting and it feeds into their narrative,” said Ryan, a mother of three and grandmother of five who has been married for 43 years.
“We’re not only in a professional relationship, now we’re family friends. Rudy just spent Thanksgiving at my house in New Hampshire.”
“The only reason we got fired was because Rudy came forward and said, ‘This is a hostile work environment and she’s being treated differently because she’s a woman.’”
The bankrupt, twice-indicted Giuliani was suspended after ranting on his namesake WABC show about the “stolen” 2020 presidential election then failed to show up to a subsequent meeting, Catsimatidis said.
Giuliani is also expected to sue the station for wrongful termination, said attorney Matthew Blit, who reps both the former mayor and Ryan.
“The only thing that changed since the day that they were on the air was that Dr. Ryan made a complaint of gender discrimination, and like on Sept. 11, Mayor Rudy courageously stood up for her, causing both to be unlawfully retaliated against,” Blit said.
