It’s been a rough week for Chris Cuomo. It started with documents being made public that revealed he was a lot more involved in his brother Andrew’s defense against sexual misconduct allegations, which led to him resigning in disgrace. The CNN anchor was first suspended and then, on Saturday, fired “effective immediately.” While he was diplomatic after his job was put on hold, he’s reportedly less so now that he’s out of work.
As per The Daily Beast, sources say Cuomo is “livid” about the termination. He was a bit more reined-in after the news of his firing first broke. “This is not how I want my time at CNN to end,” he said in a statement. “But I have already told you why and how I helped my brother.”
CNN has not revealed exactly what caused the termination, but The New York Times reports that on Wednesday, the day after Cuomo was suspended, a lawyer informed the network that he had been accused of sexual harassment by a junior colleague at another network. Cuomo has denied the allegation.
When asked if the new claim had an impact on their decision to let Cuomo go, CNN played coy. “Based on the report we received regarding Chris’s conduct with his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate,” they told NYT. “When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.”
After multiple women came forward accusing Andrew Cuomo, the now-former governor of New York, of sexual misconduct, Chris publicly admitted he had played a small role in his defense. He claimed he’d been a mere sounding board. Last week, newly unveiled documents showed that he’d gone as far as to phone into meetings about his brother’s defense, even used his connections to try and dig up dirt about his accusers.
(Via The Daily Beast and NYT)