Jim Acosta Jokes About Daily Beast Editor’s Birthday Gift — a Cameo of Rudy Giuliani

CNN’s Jim Acosta joked on Saturday with The Daily Beast’s Editor at Large, Molly Jong-Fast, about the cameo video she received for her birthday — featuring none other than Rudy Giuliani.

Cameo is an app in which users can pay for personalized messages from celebrities and public figures. Giuliani previously had been charging $199 for a video message, but as of Saturday, his booking option was unavailable.

“My producer for my podcast, The New Abnormal, got me a cameo of Rudy Giuliani for my birthday in which Rudy then plugs his own podcast,” Jong-Fast told Acosta.

In the cameo, which Jong-Fast posted to Twitter on Friday, Giuliani wished her a happy birthday and complimented her voice.

“And obviously, you’ve got a darn good friend in Jesse, who asked me to wish you a happy birthday, and also to say that all the fans of your podcast are wishing you a happy birthday,” he said before promoting his own podcast. “You should follow my podcast, it’s Rudy’s common sense dot com. Just hit subscribe, you get it for nothing.”

“What I try to focus on is the information, the news, that’s not being given to you, that’s being censored now in this very unusual time we’re in, in America,” Giuliani said. “I’d love to see your podcast, so if you get that information to me, I’d be very interested in seeing it and hearing your voice.”

But given that there is an episode from October 2020 titled “Does Rudy Giuliani Have an Ounce of Pride Left?” in which Caroline Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani’s daughter, explains her decision to vote for President Joe Biden — not to mention countless other episodes where Jong-Fast has sharply criticized him — the former New York mayor probably wouldn’t be the biggest fan.

“Molly, I don’t know what to say, I’m speechless,” Acosta said after playing part of the clip.

Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign, then said the only cameo he would want to receive from Giuliani would be from a jail cell.

“The only Rudy cameo I’d like to see is him behind a jail cell saying I regret everything I ever did,” he said. “If he sends me that cameo, I’ll be glad I got it.”

Acosta then jested: “Well, if the former mayor would like to send me a cameo, I’m happy to take one. I’m just not buying one, I’m not paying for one.”

The gifting producer, Jesse Cannon, reacted on Twitter to the trio’s conversation, saying “I can’t believe the Cameo of Rudy [Giuliani] embarrassing himself I bought for Molly Jong-Fast made it to CNN.”

Watch above, via CNN.

Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com