NEW YORK — Disgraced former Congress member and ex-convict Anthony Weiner will host a weekly radio show with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, WABC-AM radio officials announced.
The pair, who both have run losing campaigns for New York City mayor, will argue politics on a show called “The Left vs. The Right,” WABC said in a news release Friday.
Weiner, a Democrat, represented a New York City district in Congress for nearly 12 years before resigning in 2011 over lewd photos sent to several women. A 2013 bid for the Democratic mayoral nomination was derailed by new revelations of explicit photos Weiner had sent under the alias Carlos Danger.
Weiner pleaded guilty in 2017 to transferring obscene material to a 15-year-old girl and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. He was released from prison and then from a Brooklyn halfway house in 2019.
We cannot let our mistakes define us as people and as a society. WABC believes that everyone deserves a second chance in life. What better medium than radio to afford both sides of the aisle the opportunity to share their points of view, while telling a story of rehabilitation.
— TalkRadio 77 WABC (@77WABCradio) February 11, 2022
Weiner, 57, told the New York Post that the radio show isn’t part of a larger comeback plan. “I am not going back into public life, I am doing a radio show with a friend of mine,” he said.
Sliwa, 67, gained fame in the 1980s patrolling the streets and subways in a red beret as leader of the Guardian Angels. He later admitted faking some of the group’s heroic rescues for publicity.
Sliwa has hosted radio shows for decades, mostly on WABC, a talk radio station owned by supermarket magnate and Republican donor John Catsimatidis.
Sliwa secured the Republican nomination for mayor in 2021 but lost to Democrat Eric Adams in the general election by a margin of more than 2 to 1.
Sliwa told the Post he believes Weiner, who must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, deserves a second chance. “I think being on the radio he can become a role model for other people who have had major issues in their life,” Sliwa said.
