Yesterday, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean called 77 WABC owner John Catsimatidis a “sick, mean man” after he criticized her on his afternoon radio show.
The war of words came after host Rita Cosby booked former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for an hourlong interview. Dean has been an outspoken critic of Cuomo’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, alleging that both of her husband’s parents died in New York nursing homes due to policies implemented by Cuomo.
The interview took place Tuesday, and Dean responded with her comments in a Twitter video Wednesday morning.
“There was no pushback during the interview,” Dean said. “It was disgraceful. It was hard to listen to. He rambled on. Rita Cosby barely pushed back on him, so it was just more of the same. I just also want to set the record straight. Rita said that I refused to come on the air yesterday to talk about the interview on her program. That’s partly the truth.
“I won’t appear on WABC Radio because their owner — billionaire John Catsimatidis — has been nothing but hateful towards me, saying ‘Don’t listen to the weather girl’. The time I did do an interview with him, he played sound effects when I was trying to talk about my family’s loss. So I’m not gonna come on a program or a station where the owner is so disrespectful to me and my family.”
Dean then claimed she was in contact with Cosby to provide an avenue for other families that were interested in sharing their stories, but said none were contacted.
“The other thing I want to clear up is: I gave Rita Cosby several names of family members who lost loved ones during the spring of 2020, who would gladly come on their show and talk about the lies from former Governor Cuomo, but she refused to put them on,” revealed Dean. “So I wanted to set the record straight.”
In a separate tweet, Dean said she wanted to give other families the opportunity to have a platform she has had, and added that she didn’t want to appear on 77 WABC because Catsimatidis “is a misogynist and a liar”.
