New York, Dec. 5 (BUS): CNN fired presenter Chris Cuomo on Saturday less than a week after new information emerged about how to help his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, as the politician faced allegations of sexual harassment earlier this year. .
The network suspended its prime-time host Tuesday to investigate his behavior, after the New York attorney general revealed details showing he was more involved than previously known in helping to strategize and communicate with other journalists as his brother struggled to keep his job.
CNN hired a law firm to conduct that review, which it did not specify. Lawyers recommended that Chris Cuomo be fired, and CNN President Jeff Zucker informed the broadcaster of the decision Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
“It goes without saying that these decisions are not easy, and there are a lot of complicating factors,” Zucker said in an email to CNN staff on Saturday.
“In the process of that review, additional information came to light,” the network said. CNN will not discuss this information, or determine whether it has anything to do with his brother.
Cuomo issued a statement on Twitter calling the decision disappointing.
“This is not the way I want my time at CNN to end, but I’ve already told you why and how you helped my brother. So now let me say as disappointing as it is, I couldn’t be more proud of the team at Como Prime Time and the work we’ve done” .
Even with the shooting, CNN said it would continue to investigate Cuomo’s behavior “as appropriate.”
A year ago, the two sons of late New York Governor Mario Cuomo were flying high: Andrew as an initially three-term governor was praised in many circles for his handling of the pandemic, and Chris was the highest-rated character on CNN. Now both are unemployed.
When women came forward to accuse former Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, his brother, despite being a CNN anchor, lobbied sources for information about the accused and told the governor’s staff what he was learning.
He was active in helping craft their response to the charges, according to emails and a transcript of his testimony to investigators working for state attorney general Letitia James. Her office found that Andrew Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women; The former governor had resigned in August to avoid a possible impeachment trial.
Chris Cuomo and CNN have been under fire for months over their anchor’s behavior. When it first emerged in May that the broadcaster was speaking with his brother’s advisors, the network admitted he had violated its rules, but, as CNN said in a statement when commented earlier this week, “We appreciate the unique situation as well who has been there and understands his need for the family situation.” in first place and the job in second place.”
Texts released by James this week revealed vastly more details about Cuomo’s involvement — CNN executives admitted it came as a surprise even to them.
While Cuomo said he never attempted to influence CNN’s private coverage of his brother, he did tell James’s investigators about his calls with other reporters to find out what information they had about some of his accusers.
This appears to contradict an on-air statement Cuomo gave on CNN following his brother’s resignation in August. Cuomo said I “didn’t make calls to the press about my brother’s situation.”
Cuomo also said that he never attacked or encouraged anyone to attack any woman who had brought charges against his brother. According to email transcripts released this week, Cuomo wrote to his aides “I have evidence” of one of the accused, although it was not clear what he meant.
Things moved quickly this week after the transcripts were released. CNN took him off the air on Tuesday and suspended him indefinitely before Saturday’s shooting.
It was clearly a painful decision for Zucker, who installed Cuomo as the host of a morning show shortly after taking over at CNN in 2013, and later moved him to prime time. Until this week, he had been supporting Cuomo despite criticism. “Cuomo Prime Time” was the network’s highest-rated show this year, airing at 9 p.m. Eastern between shows by Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon.
The shooting leaves a huge hole in the network’s schedule. A former competitor soon becomes a free agent: Brian Williams recently announced that he will be leaving MSNBC, where he has established a nightly news watch, when his contract expires at the end of the year.
There was always the possibility of conflict with one Cuomo’s brother as governor and the other as a journalist. But since Chris Cuomo joined CNN, it’s always been clear he won’t be covering anything related to his brother.
That changed with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the governor appeared on his brother’s show multiple times, trading family banter that viewers enjoyed but raising moral flags. Then they were stopped.
Veteran CEO Shelley Ross wrote a column for The New York Times in September that Chris Cuomo touched her at a party 16 years ago, when they were both working for ABC News. “I apologized to her then, and I meant it,” Cuomo told the newspaper.