‘Wait, That’s It?!’ Chris Hayes Mocks Giuliani’s ‘Ridiculous’ Account of Backslap

Chris Hayes addressed an incident in a Staten Island grocery store on Sunday where an employee slapped Rudy Giuliani on the back. The former New York mayor was campaigning for his son Andrew Giuliani, who is running for governor.

Initial reports indicated Giuliani had been “attacked” or “slapped,” but did not specify the nature of the episode. Shortly after, video emerged showing a man approaching Giuliani from behind and heartily patting him on the back. The man reportedly said, “Hey, what’s up, scumbag?”

While acknowledging the man was wrong to touch Giuliani, Hayes nonetheless had some fun with Giuliani’s account.

“To hear him tell it, America’s mayor was viciously attacked by a grocery store worked,” said the MSNBC host on Monday. He then played a clip of Giuliani’s response.

“All of a sudden, I feel a shot on my back like somebody shot me,” Giuliani told a radio host. “I went forward, but luckily I didn’t fall down. Lucky I’m a 78-year-old and in pretty good shape because if I wasn’t, I’d have hit the ground, and probably cracked my skull.”

“Oh,” Hayes reacted. “Rudy Giuliani told the New York Post that the worker also verbally attacked him. Quote, ‘I feel this tremendous pain in my back and I’m thinking, what the… All of a sudden, I hear this guy say, ‘You’re an effing scumbag.’

“Giuliani also told the New York Times that he was left with quote, “red marks” on his back but was not bleeding. He told his Facebook audience the physical assault was extremely painful.”

Hayes played another snippet in which Giuliani claimed, “I got hit on the back as if a boulder hit me. It knocked me forward a step or two. It didn’t knock me down, but it hurt tremendously.”

The host finally played the clip of the incident:

There is Rudy standing right there in the middle with his back to us, looking away from the camera. Then out of nowhere, what? Wha–? Wait, that’s it?! That’s what felt like a boulder or gunshot?

Let’s take another look in slow motion. Rudy, standing there. He’s talking, and then somebody slaps him on the back. The two men appear to exchange words, and that’s it. That was the assault, as Rudy tells it.

Hayes noted the man was arrested and that according to his lawyer, he spent more than 24 hours in detention.

“It goes without saying, nobody should lay hands on anyone – not Rudy Giuliani, not anyone – regardless of their intention,” Hayes said. “The tape and the interaction does make Rudy Giuliani’s description of the assault seem pretty ridiculous. Always a good reminder to take with these guys say with just the largest possible grain of salt on planet Earth.”

Watch above via MSNBC.