On Saturday, CNN announced that they have fired anchor Chris Cuomo with immediate effect. This decision comes after an external law firm looked into how Cuomo supported his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, during accusations of sexual harassment.
Cuomo was suspended by CNN indefinitely on Tuesday, and following the law firm's report on Friday, CNN's president Jeff Zucker made the decision to terminate Cuomo's employment. Despite this, the team behind “Cuomo Prime Time” will continue their work as usual.
Michael Smerconish, who often filled in for Cuomo, will host the 9 p.m. Eastern hour. CNN 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.”
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“While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” CNN's statement added. “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.” In a statement of his own Saturday, Chris Cuomo said, “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.” Shortly after CNN made their announcement, the New York Times revealed that lawyer Debra Katz informed CNN on Wednesday about an accusation of sexual misconduct against Chris Cuomo, made by one of her clients.
The Times reported that the client is described as “a former junior colleague (of Cuomo's) at another network.” Katz didn't respond immediately to a request for comment. Likewise, a spokesperson for Cuomo remained silent, but did communicate with the Times, stating, “These apparently anonymous allegations are not true.”
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A spokesperson from CNN stated, “Based on the report we received regarding Chris's conduct with his brother's defense, we had cause to terminate. When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.”
While the general outline of Chris Cuomo's involvement with the governor's office surfaced months ago, the specific details emerged in a recent extensive document release. New York Attorney General Letitia James, following an investigation into the governor, disclosed documents on Monday unveiling that Chris Cuomo, despite his role as a top anchor at CNN, was essentially acting as an unofficial advisor to the governor without compensation.
The close and inappropriate nature of this relationship was evidenced by text messages obtained by James' office. These messages exchanged between the anchor and various aides and allies of the governor illustrated Chris Cuomo's efforts to leverage his media connections to assist Andrew Cuomo's team in response to emerging accusations.
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On the day his brother resigned, back in August, Chris Cuomo told viewers that “this situation is unlike anything I could have imagined.” He emphasized that he refrained from reporting on the sexual harassment scandal or attempting to influence CNN's coverage. Additionally, he admitted to "trying to support my brother" during the scandal's emergence.
“I'm not an adviser. I'm a brother. I wasn't in control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my take,” he said. He said on his radio show on Wednesday that the suspension was “embarrassing” but understandable. He also said he never wanted to “compromise any of my colleagues” and said he would respect the process.
