• “Mr. Giuliani said again that he would not talk to Mr. Greene the Grammys honcho who shouted at a mayoral aide until he had heard genuine contrition instead of a ‘phony apology.’”
  --New York Times

• “If you want to abuse a member of my staff, abuse me and see if you get away with it.”
  --Mayor Giuliani

• “Greene insisted that he spoke to the mayoral aide ‘in a very civil manner.’”
  --New York Post

• “We are big supporters of Giuliani. . . . We’re very hopeful that we can kiss and make up soon.”
  --Michael Greene
  

• “It was wrong of me to yell and scream at a member of your staff. . . . It was wrong of me to threaten to kill her . . . it’s not going to happen again. . . . That apology, I accept in a second.”
  --Mayor Giuliani

• “An apology is only sincere and real when it is given privately. Real grown up people handle things quietly. Apologies are not supposed to be media events.”
  --Letitia Baldrige, etiquette authority

Related:

• Archive: “Gotham: Life in the New City”
• Table of Contents: Mar 9, 1998 issue of New York | Subscribe!