Rudy Giuliani

About

Rudy Giuliani is an American lawyer and politician from New York. He began his political career in the 1980s and was notably the Mayor of New York City during 9/11, after which time, he was broadly popular in America. However, decades after, he became engrossed in multiple scandals after joining President Donald Trump's personal legal team. He has been the subject of widespread mockery online for several scandals and gaffes, including his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election and various personal controversies.

History

Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani was born in New York City on May 28th, 1944.^[1] In the 1970s, he practiced law in New York City, and in the 1980s, he joined the Reagan Administration as an Associate Attorney General. In 1983, he was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He ran for New York City Mayor in 1989 but lost. However, he was able to win in the subsequent 1993 election and assumed office in 1994. He won a second election in 1997 and served until the end of 2001.

During his time as New York City mayor, Giuliani led a "tough on crime" administration and crime did fall in the city during his tenure, though some have harshly criticized Giuliani's methods. The NYCLU^[2] wrote that "racial bias, fear-mongering, and police brutality were the hallmarks of Giuliani’s mayoralty."

Rudy Giuliani was the Mayor of New York City during the September 11th, 2001, attacks and received widespread praise for his leadership of the city in the aftermath. He was dubbed "America's Mayor" and was named "Person of the Year" by Time Magazine in 2001.^[3]

Giuliani ran for President in 2008 but petered out early in the Republican Primary, ultimately endorsing the eventual Republican nominee John McCain. During the Obama administration, Giuliani largely stayed out of politics until the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election. There, he attracted controversies for remarks about Obama and later his support of Donald Trump.

During the 2016 Republican National Convention, Giuliani gave a controversial speech in which he attempted to drum up fears of Obama, which some perceived as racist.^[7] The speech was frequently lampooned online (example shown below).^[8]

Giuliani later became an advisor to the Trump administration and was dogged by controversies throughout his time in the administration.

Controversies

In 2018, Rudy Giuliani joined Trump's personal legal team. During this time, he made multiple, high-profile gaffes, such as admitting Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen in the Stormy Daniels scandal and possibly admitting that there was collusion between Trump and Russia on CNN as part of the Russiagate scandal (shown below).

Borat 2 Prank Controversy

In 2020, Rudy Giuliani was pranked by Borat 2 filmmakers. In a scene, Giuliani appears to attempt to seduce a supposed underage Russian reporter (who was actually of-age actress Maria Bakalova). Giuliani was filmed lying on a bed with his hand down his pants before Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen broke up the moment.

Efforts To Overturn The 2020 Election

Rudy Giuliani was a key figure in the Trump administration's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election results. After the election went to Joe Biden, Giuliani made several television appearances casting doubt on the election. He would later admit he had "made up" falsehoods in order to cast doubt on election results.^[4]

Perhaps his most noteworthy gaffe was holding a bizarre press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia where he cast doubt on election results. Onlookers hypothesized that Giuliani's team meant to book the upscale Four Seasons Hotel but made an error, leading to a bizarre spectacle in which Giuliani cast doubt on election results outside of a Philadelphia garage.

On January 6th, 2021, prior to the storming of the Capitol, Giuliani gave another passionate speech to protestors demanding "trial by combat" in the effort to overturn the election.^[5] On August 1st, 2023, Giuliani was named as a co-conspirator in Donald Trump's Capitol Insurrection Indictment.

Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

On May 15th, 2023, Rudy Giuliani was sued by former aide Noelle Dunphy for alleged sexual abuse and rape.^[6] Dunphy claimed Giuliani made clear that her satisfying his sexual demands was "absolutely" a part of her job. On August 2nd, transcripts of offensive statements and sexual harassment made by Giuliani from the lawsuit appeared online. They included Giuliani claiming Jewish men have small penises and telling Dunphy "I want to claim my tits." These statements were widely joked about online.

Related Memes

Breaking News Parodies

Rudy Giuliani Breaking News Parodies refer to exploitable images of Donald Trump's attorney and former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani looking surprised during an interview on CNN, which are typically edited to appear as if he is reacting to a variety of humorous chyrons.

On July 26th, 2018, Giuliani appeared as a guest on the CNN talk show Cuomo Prime Time, where he weighed in on the validity of attorney Michael Cohen's recent accusations that President Trump was aware of his son's meeting with Russians offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The same night, Twitter user @DustinGeibel tweeted a screenshot of Giuliani making a surprised facial expression while appearing to look down toward the CNN chyron during the interview (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet garnered 200 retweets and 625 likes in the first day.

"You" Tweet

Rudy Giuliani's 'You' Tweet refers to a tweet by Donald Trump attorney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani that simply reads, "You." After the tweet was posted, Twitter users parodied it by adding various quotes from popular culture which use the word "You."

On July 29th, 2018, Rudy Giuliani tweeted the word "You," gaining 7,400 retweets, 20,000 likes, and over 22,000 replies (shown below).

After the tweet was posted, Twitter users quickly took to parodying the tweet by adding various quotes from popular culture which use the word "You." Rapper Soulja Boy, of "Crank That Soulja Boy" fame, tweeted the lyrics to the song with the tweet, gaining over 84,000 retweets and 294,000 likes (shown below, left). User HKesvani posted the tweet with the lyrics to Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", gaining over 430 retweets and 3,600 likes (shown below, right).

Hair Dye Streaks

Rudy Giuliani's Hair Dye Streaks refers to the black liquid dripping down the face of United States President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani during a press conference about unverified claims of voter fraud. Online, people used the event to make jokes about Giuliani melting.

On November 19th, 2020, Rudy Giuliani and the Trump legal team held a press conference that alleged wide-spread voter fraud in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. During the press conference, cameras observed black liquid running down the sides of Giuliani's face.

Search Interest

External References