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CNNFires Chris Cuomo Amid Inquiry Into His Efforts to Aid His Brother The network said it had “terminated him, effective immediately,” amove that came days after a lawyer for a former colleague accused the host ofsexual misconduct.
Chris Cuomo, the top-rated anchor at CNN,had built a successful broadcast career outside of his famed political family. Chris Cuomo, the top-rated anchor at CNN,had built a successful broadcast career outside of his famed politicalfamily.Credit...Mike Blake/Reuters Michael M. GrynbaumJohn KoblinJodi Kantor By Michael M. Grynbaum, John Koblin andJodi Kantor Published Dec. 4, 2021 Updated Dec. 5, 2021, 1:18 a.m. ET The star anchor Chris Cuomo was fired byCNN on Saturday, completing a stunning downfall for the network’s top-rated host amid a continuing inquiry into his efforts to helphis brother, Andrew M. Cuomo, then the governor of New York, stave off sexualharassment accusations.
The anchor was suspended on Tuesday aftertestimony and text messages released by the New York attorney general revealeda more intimate and engaged role in his brother’spolitical affairs than the network said it had previously known.
On Wednesday, Debra S. Katz, a prominentemployment lawyer, informed CNN of a client with an allegation of sexualmisconduct against Chris Cuomo. Ms. Katz said in a statement on Saturday thatthe allegation against the anchor, which was made by a former junior colleagueat another network, was “unrelated to the Gov. AndrewCuomo matter.”
It was not fully clear what role theallegation played in CNN’s decision to dismiss Mr.Cuomo. Ms. Katz is also the lawyer for Charlotte Bennett, a onetime aide toAndrew Cuomo who accused the former governor in February of sexual harassment.
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Asked about the new allegation, a CNNspokeswoman said in a statement on Saturday night: “Basedon the report we received regarding Chris’s conductwith his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate.When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw noreason to delay taking immediate action.”
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, Steven Goldberg,said in a statement on Saturday, “These apparentlyanonymous allegations are not true.”
Ms. Katz said that her client “came forward because she was disgusted by Chris Cuomo’s on-air statements in response to the allegations made against hisbrother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.” Ms. Katz cited a March 1broadcast in which Chris Cuomo said: “I have alwayscared very deeply about these issues, and profoundly so. I just wanted to tellyou that.”
Mr. Cuomo’sspokesman responded that the former anchor “fullystands by his on-air statements about his connection to these issues, bothprofessionally and in a profoundly personal way. If the goal in making thesefalse and unvetted accusations was to see Mr. Cuomo punished by CNN, that mayexplain his unwarranted termination.”
Earlier on Saturday, CNN said it had “retained a respected law firm to conduct a review” of the anchor’s involvement with AndrewCuomo’s political team. “Whilein the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” CNN said. “Despite the termination, we willinvestigate as appropriate.”
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As the gregarious and sometimes combativehost of CNN’s 9 p.m. hour, Mr. Cuomo was at the peak ofa broadcast journalism career that he had forged outside of his famed politicalfamily. But it was the troubles of his brother, who resigned the governorshipin August, that ultimately embroiled Mr. Cuomo in a controversy that appearedto precipitate his dismissal.
“This is not how I want my time at CNN toend but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother,” Chris Cuomo said in a statement earlier on Saturday. “So let me now say as disappointing as this is, I could not be moreproud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot.”
Until last month, Mr. Cuomo had enjoyed thesupport of CNN’s president, Jeff Zucker, and he facedno discipline for his behind-the-scenes strategizing with Andrew Cuomo’s political aides, a breach of basic journalistic norms.
But documents released on Nov. 29 revealedthat the anchor offered advice on Andrew Cuomo’s publicstatements and made efforts to uncover the status of pending articles at othernews outlets, including The New Yorker and Politico, concerning harassmentallegations against his brother.
Mr. Zucker — whohad been steadfast in backing Chris Cuomo, at one point saying the anchor was “human” and facing “veryunique circumstances” — informed the anchor on Saturdaythat he was being fired. “It goes without saying thatthese decisions are not easy, and there are a lot of complex factors involved,” Mr. Zucker wrote in a memo to CNN staff.
The spectacle of a high-profile anchoradvising his powerful politician brother amid scandal was a longstandingheadache for many CNN journalists, who privately expressed discomfort atactions that, in their view, compromised the network’scredibility. The CNN anchor Jake Tapper went public with his concerns in May,telling The New York Times that his colleague had “putus in a bad spot,” adding, “Icannot imagine a world in which anybody in journalism thinks that that wasappropriate.”
Even so, the timing of Mr. Cuomo’s firing, on a Saturday at 5 p.m., caught many members of the CNNnewsroom off guard.
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The network’sdecision earlier in the week to suspend Mr. Cuomo had left open the possibilitythat he might return to the channel at a later date. CNN’s chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter, speculated on air onWednesday that it was “possible he’ll be back in January.”
The network said on Tuesday it would beginan internal review of Mr. Cuomo’s conduct. But its executiveshad not immediately planned to hire an outside law firm, according to a personfamiliar with the network’s internal decision-makingprocess. That plan changed in recent days, and CNN declined on Saturday toidentify the name of the law firm it had retained.
The Downfall of Andrew Cuomo Card 1 of 5 The path to resignation. After drawingnational praise for his leadership in the early days of the pandemic, New YorkGovernor Andrew Cuomo was confronted with several scandals that eventually ledto his resignation on Aug. 10, 2021. Here is what to know about his politicaldemise:
Sexual harassment accusations. Multiplewomen accused Mr. Cuomo of harassment, including groping and lewd remarks. Anindependent inquiry by the New York State attorney general corroborated theaccounts. The investigation also found that he retaliated against at least onewoman who made her complaints public.
Nursing home controversy. The Cuomoadministration came under fire for undercounting the number of nursing-homedeaths caused by Covid-19 in the first half of 2020. The official tally mighthave undercounted the true toll by as much as 50 percent.
Book deal. The attorney general’s report found that Mr. Cuomo used state workers to produce hispandemic memoir, breaking a promise to the Joint Commission on Public Ethicsnot to use state resources for its completion. The board subsequently voted torevoke its authorization for the book.
Chris Cuomo’sinvolvement. Chris Cuomo, a CNN anchor and Andrew Cuomo’s brother, was suspended indefinitely by the network on Nov. 30,after the New York State attorney general released new evidence about hisfar-reaching efforts to assist his sibling that were in breach of journalisticstandards. He was fired on Dec. 4.
Before joining CNN, Mr. Cuomo spent yearsas an on-air correspondent, covering wildfires, shooting rampages and warzones, most prominently at ABC News. He was one of Mr. Zucker’s first major hires after he became president of the network in2013. A morning show, “New Day,” was organized in part around Mr. Cuomo’sbombastic, fast-talking on-air personality.
The awkwardness of his relationship withAndrew Cuomo — who was among the most powerfulDemocratic politicians in the country — became apparentalmost immediately: In 2013, the network was criticized after Chris Cuomo twiceinterviewed his brother on “New Day.”
In 2018, Mr. Cuomo moved to prime-time,taking the coveted 9 p.m. slot. “Cuomo Prime Time” became CNN’s highest-rated hour, althoughit regularly attracted fewer viewers than competitors on Fox News and MSNBC.
At the onset of the pandemic, Andrew Cuomobecame a leading national figure in the government response. Chris Cuomo beganinterviewing his brother in prime time, and their teasing banter and emotional conversationsbecame a hit with viewers. Ratings surged further after Chris Cuomo contractedthe coronavirus; he continued broadcasting, and interviewing his brother, fromquarantine in the basement of his Long Island home. Mr. Zucker praised thesegments for their “authenticity and relatability andvulnerability.”
“That’s what thebrothers Cuomo are giving us right now,” Mr. Zuckertold The Times in April 2020.
The next year, as Andrew Cuomo was facingan increasing number of sexual harassment accusations, Chris Cuomo recusedhimself from reporting on the scandal, leaving a prime-time hole in CNN’s coverage of what was turning out to be a national news story.
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At the same time, away from the anchordesk, Chris Cuomo was participating in strategy sessions with the governor’s top aides. It also emerged that Andrew Cuomo had arranged for hisbrother’s Covid tests to receive priority treatment bythe state. CNN did not discipline Chris Cuomo, and at one point offered theanchor a leave of absence if he wished to more formally help his brother.
After Andrew Cuomo resigned, Chris Cuomodefended himself on the Aug. 16 episode of his program. “I’m not an adviser, I’m a brother,” the anchor said. “I never attacked nor encouraged anyone to attack any woman who cameforward. I never made calls to the press about my brother’s situation.”
But the new batch of testimony and textmessages suggested that Mr. Cuomo did function as an adviser and did reach outto journalists. “When asked, I would reach out tosources, other journalists, to see if they had heard of anybody else comingout,” he told investigators.
In September, another former colleague,Shelley Ross, who had worked with Mr. Cuomo at ABC News, described an instancewhen the anchor touched her inappropriately at a gathering in 2005. In an essaypublished in the opinion section of The Times, Ms. Ross wrote that Mr. Cuomo “greeted me with a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmlygrab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock.”
In a response published by The Times aspart of the essay, Mr. Cuomo said: “As Shelleyacknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. It happened 16 yearsago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. I apologized toher then, and I meant it.”
Ms. Ross had been Mr. Cuomo’s boss at ABC News before the incident she described; at thegathering, she wrote, Mr. Cuomo told her, “I can dothis now that you’re no longer my boss.” She wrote that she was inspired to publish the essay partly becauseMr. Cuomo had “escaped accountability” for advising his brother while working as a CNN news anchor, andalso because of the statements he had made on March 1, in which he spoke ofcaring “very deeply” about theissue of sexual harassment.
Michael M. Grynbaum is a mediacorrespondent covering the intersection of business, culture and politics.@grynbaum
John Koblin covers the television industry.He reports on the companies and personalities behind the scripted TV boom, andthe networks that broadcast the news. He previously covered fashion. @koblin
Jodi Kantor is a Pulitzer Prize-winninginvestigative reporter and co-author of “She Said”, which recounts how she and Megan Twohey broke the story of sexualabuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein, helping to ignite the #MeToomovement. @jodikantor • Facebook
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楼主: 刘海明
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