Just a short while ago, CNN President Jeff Zucker announced that suspended CNN anchor Chris Cuomo had been terminated “effective immediately.”
You are all aware that earlier this week we made the decision to suspend Chris Cuomo while we evaluated some new information that came to light regarding his involvement in his brother’s defense. Chris was informed today by me that CNN is terminating his employment. These decisions can be difficult and involve many complex factors. As always, I wanted to communicate with you all.
The following is the official statement, which we will soon release publicly.
CNN 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. He was terminated immediately after we retained an experienced law firm for the review. During the review additional information was discovered. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
This whole melodrama started back in May when the Washington Post and New York Times reported that Chris Cuomo had been involved in discussions with his older brother Michael…I mean Andrew…who was governor of New York at the time. Discussions were held about Andrew Cuomo’s media strategy to help end the harassment accusations that have been swirling around him. It led eventually to his resignation and has now become the focus of a federal investigation.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo was a CNN anchor who advised New York Governor. Andrew M. Cuomo, and senior members of the governor’s staff on how to respond to sexual harassment allegations made earlier this year by women who had worked with the governor, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
Cuomo, one of the network’s top stars, joined a series of conference calls that included the Democratic governor, his top aide, his communications team, lawyers and a number of outside advisers, according to the people familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private sessions.
This happened earlier in the year as a rising number of allegations that Andrew Cuomo inappropriately commented on women and touched them without their consent escalated to a political crisis.
The cable news anchor encouraged his brother to take a defiant position and not to resign from the governor’s office, the people said. At one point, he used the phrase “cancel culture” as a reason to hold firm in the face of the allegations, two people present on one call said.
The behind-the-scenes strategy offered by Chris Cuomo, who anchors CNN’s 9 p.m. nightly newscast, cuts against the widely accepted norm in journalism that those reporting the news should not be involved in politics.
Evidently, that rule is either brand new or was there in 2017-2018.
Chris Cuomo might well have survived that debacle because CNN had already let him interview his brother on his brother’s Wuhan virus response and produce hard-hitting journalism like: “I hope you are able to appreciate what you did in your state and what it means for the rest of the country now and what it will always mean to those who love and care about you the most. I’m wowed by what you did, and more importantly, I’m wowed by how you did it. This was hard. I know it’s not over. But obviously, I love you as a brother, obviously, I’ll never be objective, obviously, I think you’re the best politician in the country.”
Later, documents from other sources surfaced on Monday. These were leaked by someone in the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating Andrew Cuomo’s conduct. They showed that Chris Cuomo was actively involved in trying to discover the identities of some of the anonymous complainants in his brother’s case (read CNN Goes Deeper into the Cuomo Scandal). CNN removed Cuomo. Tucker Carlson reported his suspension.
The obvious conclusion is easy to draw from the firing. This firing has nothing to do a breach of journalistic ethics and social boundaries. After all, Jeffrey Toobin, who banged a colleague’s daughter and tried to coerce her into having an abortion and who was suspended from CNN for jerking off during a Zoom meeting, has been reinstated to his position at CNN.
There was nothing about ratings that caused the firing. Tater distributed Chris Cuomo’s response.
“…in the most competitive time slot. They are all my debts and I will be forever grateful to them for their exceptional work.” (2/2)
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 4, 2021
The tweet gives the impression that Cuomo’s program was the top show in its slot. I would just point out that “CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot,” was CNN’s only show in that slot and its ratings were on par with the Yule Log Channel.
Andrew Cuomoo is not governor anymore. So long as Andrew was governor and appeared to be the Democrat frontrunner for the 2024 presidential nomination, Chris Cuomo’s lack of talent, crappy personality, and inferiority complex camouflaged by an overweening ego were perfectly fine.
But when Andrew Cuomo was perp-walked out of the governor’s mansion in Albany, all of that changed. Cuomoo lost his pluses. CNN only had the minuses. So, Jeff Zucker took Fredo out for the last boat ride on the lake on this cold December afternoon.
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