Alas, Chris Cuomo, we hardly knew ye

(CNN via AP)

I’ll confess that I was taken by surprise yesterday when the news broke that CNN host Chris Cuomo had been fired “effective immediately” from the network. Despite the mounting evidence that the younger Cuomo seemed to have done more than simply “listen” to his brother Andrew and offer “his take” on the ex-governor’s mounting scandals, I really thought CNN would find a way to sweep this under the rug and move on. After all, Cuomo’s show was one of their best-rated offerings until just recently, and that was during a time when CNN’s overall ratings have been tanking badly. (As of this week, CNN is even losing to MSNBC. Fox News has more viewers than those two networks combined.) But in the end, the details of what Chris Cuomo had actually been doing for his brother were too much for the executives to swallow, so he had to go. (NY Post)

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Embattled CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has been fired by the network, in the wake of new revelations about his close involvement with the political woes of his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo…

CNN confirmed the firing and said that Cuomo had been “terminated … effective immediately” as an outside law firm continues to investigate “his involvement with his brother’s defense.”

The station was notified by an attorney representing an accuser of a sexual misconduct allegation against Chris Cuomo not related to his role in his brother’s scandal, The New York Times reported. Attorney Debra Katz had reached out to CNN Wednesday, according to the Times.

As it turns out, Chris was doing more than just “advising.” Text messages revealed that he had been using his media contacts to try to dig up dirt on some of the women accusing Andrew Cuomo in an effort to discredit them and their allegations. That’s pretty much the opposite of “believe all women,” and numerous staffers at CNN expressed their shock to reporters over the idea that he still had a job at the network.

Also, as noted in the excerpt above, it turns out that Chris Cuomo allegedly may have had more “direct experience” in the area of fending off sexual harassment allegations than we’d previously known. The claims by Shelley Ross that Chris had grabbed her posterior right in front of her husband during a 2005 work party seem to be well-founded. She has revealed a message from him following the event where he apologized to her and her husband for his inappropriate behavior. Perhaps the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree after all.

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The problems for the Cuomo brothers are far from over. As Ed Morrissey reported on Friday, the Department of Justice is (or at least was) investigating the sexual harassment claims against Andrew Cuomo and such an investigation could lead to additional charges, though probably not prison time. Will we next find out that the DoJ is looking into the younger Cuomo brother as well?

From all we’ve learned over the past several years, it does indeed seem as if the Cuomo boys had a lot in common beyond their last name. Both were known for having very short tempers and a tendency to lash out at anyone who got in their way. They also seem to have shared a tendency to get inappropriately handsy with women. All of these traits speak to an incredible sense of entitlement (and we’re talking about actual entitlement, not the current woke definition) which probably shouldn’t be surprising for men raised in the shadow of Mario Cuomo.

Before anyone gets too worried about Chris Cuomo, the guy has been at CNN for quite a while with a contract that was paying six million per year as of 2020. He has a very nice home in the Hamptons, the same place where he once came out in his yard and screamed at a bicyclist who asked why he was outside when he had tested positive for COVID. I’m sure he’s going to be fine. But at this point, I’m doubtful that he’ll get another cable news or network television gig. There are some sins that simply aren’t forgivable in the current era.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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