Yahoo Movies CNN fires Chris Cuomo for trying to help governor brother fend off sexual harassment scandal
CNN has fired Chris Cuomo "effective immediately," the news network announced Saturday, amid an investigation into the anchor's role in his brother Andrew Cuomo's sexual harassment scandal.
"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," CNN said in a statement. "We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately. While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate."
New documents released this week indicated that the news anchor and Cuomo Prime Time host had helped his brother, the former governor of New York, plan his defense against a series of misconduct allegations. They also revealed that Chris sought to use his connections as a journalist to gain information from the press that might assist his brother.
Theo Wargo/Getty
"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," Cuomo said in a statement on Saturday. "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."
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) December 4, 2021
Andrew Cuomo resigned as New York governor in August, after the state attorney general released a report detailing numerous allegations of sexual harassment against him. His resignation followed a months-long scandal, during which Chris reportedly offered advice to his brother's political staff, widely considered a breach of journalistic ethics.
"I cannot imagine a world in which anybody in journalism thinks that that was appropriate," his fellow CNN anchor Jake Tapper told The New York Times in May.
Chris previously acknowledged that he had stopped giving his "take" on Andrew's affairs on the air in May, at the request of CNN. He himself was also accused of sexual harassment by his former ABC boss, an incident he acknowledged occurred but said was "not sexual in nature."
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