Twitter Scoffs After Giuliani Gets Grocery Store Worker Arrested for ‘Pat on the Back’: ‘A Miracle He Survived’

Sarah RumpfJun 26th, 2022, 10:20 pm
 
Rudy Giuliani looking embarrassed

Alex Wong/Getty Images

On Sunday, Rudy Giuliani told reporters that he had “felt a tremendous pain in my back” like “somebody shot me” after being slapped on the back by an employee at a Staten Island ShopRite. But after surveillance video of the incident showed the “slap” to be more along the lines of a semi-emphatic pat, Twitter users mocked the former New York City mayor — and questioned why he felt he had to have the man arrested.

Sunday afternoon, Giuliani was at the ShopRite to campaign for his son, Andrew Giuliani, who is running for the Republican nomination for New York Governor in this coming Tuesday’s primary election. A 39-year-old employee of the grocery store allegedly approached Giuliani, slapped him on the back, said “Hey, what’s up, scumbag?” and made comments referring the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The man’s name was not immediately released and he was arrested at the scene.

Andrew Giuliani blamed “the left-wing” for “encouraging violence,” when reached for comment about the incident by the New York Post and the elder Giuliani was even more descriptive in his remarks to reporters, claiming he had “red marks” on his back, “just about fell down,” “felt a tremendous pain in my back,” thought it felt like “somebody shot me,” and said he was in “pretty good shape…if I wasn’t I would have hit the ground and probably cracked my skull.”

The surveillance footage of this allegedly vicious assault that Giuliani said caused him “tremendous pain” and felt like being “shot” showed what many viewed as a far less dangerous contact.

That “slap” might not have been very brutal, but Twitter users’ reactions to the video definitely were. Giuliani’s comments to the Post saying he felt like he had to call the police on the man who “slapped” him drew further scrutiny and mockery:

The former federal prosecutor told The Post he felt it was his duty to call the cops — likening the decision to his tough-on-crime policies as mayor.

“I say to myself, ‘You know something? I gotta get this guy arrested,’ ” he said. “I talk about ‘broken windows’ theory all the time. You can’t let the little things go.

“I’m like, ‘I’m gonna get this guy arrested as an example that you can’t do this. And I said, also, in New York, we don’t prosecute people anymore. And one of the reasons I brought crime down is I didn’t ignore stuff like this.”

“I gotta get this guy arrested.” Well then. Thank goodness the streets are safe from rampaging thugs going around patting people’s backs.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.