According to an official statement, CNN has fired Chris Cuomo effective immediately after revealing communication between him and his brother’s team regarding the sexual abuse allegations that the former governor was dealing with.
CNN fires Chris Cuomo over his involvement in brother Andrew’s response to sexual misconduct scandal
According to the network, Cuomo had misled them about the full nature of his involvement, despite admitting to contacting his brother’s staff with the intention to provide advice initially.
The network said in a statement: “Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense. We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review and have terminated him, effective immediately.”
It continued: “While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
The former host of Cuomo Prime Time has reacted to his firing with the following note: “This is not how I want my time at CNN to end, but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother. So let me now say, as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot. I owe them all and will miss that group of special people who did really important work.”
Chris Cuomo got involved deeply in the former governor’s response to the crisis
It looks like Cuomo has been much more deeply involved with his brother’s defense than he was letting on, which has created an apparent conflict of interest.
Reports indicate that Cuomo had helped guide his brother’s statements and his overall response to the allegations, attempting to play down the situation and to steer attention away from Andrew Cuomo.
Chris Cuomo initially sent a message to Melissa DeRosa, an aide to the governor, confirming that he was involved with preparation work for the response to his sibling’s scandal.
Further messages exchanged between the two discussed various rumors that were starting to gain prominence at the time.
Cuomo also seems to have made conflicting statements at some points, with some reports indicating that he had initially not told CNN of his contact with a journalist about a New Yorker article about his brother because he did not find anything inappropriate about that communication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBPqh2RYrjU
Chris Cuomo faces new sexual misconduct allegation
After getting axed by CNN, Cuomo now faces accusation of sexual misconduct brought forward by a woman who was a former “junior colleague” at another network.
The lawyer for the alleged victim, Debra Katz shared the information with the New York Times.
The woman is coming forward because she was disgusted by Cuomo’s statement on-air about caring about issues like sexual misconduct in the workplace.
It is believed that the new information pushed CNN to act more quickly than initially envisioned. Earlier this year, Shelley Ross, who worked with Cuomo at ABC News, said the TV anchor touched her inappropriately at a 2005 party. He had apologized at the time for his actions.
It is not clear exactly what has transpired behind the scenes, as reports indicate that there could be even more damning revelations on the way, but Chris Cuomo has refrained from commenting on the latest revelations so far and has been avoiding public attention regarding the incident for the most part.