The Debate Surrounding Chris Cuomo’s ‘Fredo’ Remarks Has Predictably Turned Into A Fiasco

Late Monday night, a video of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s confrontation with another man went viral after the former compared being called “Fredo” to the n-word. According to the New York Times, the video itself — which has since been taken down by YouTube — does not contain the second man’s comment comparing Cuomo to the character from The Godfather film franchise, but it does show the cable news personality threatening him over it.

“My name is Chris Cuomo,” he tells the unidentified man in the video. “I’m an anchor on CNN. Fredo is from The Godfather. He was that weak brother. And they use it as an Italian aspersion.”

Cuomo, whose brother Andrew is the current governor of New York, goes on to say that his mostly conservative critics have frequently used the “Fredo” comparison as an insult against him. He then responds to his accuser with a profanity-laden rant and even goes so far as to threaten to throw him down some nearby stairs.

In a tweeted statement, a CNN spokesperson said the network supported Cuomo despite the video’s comments. “Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup,” read the tweet. “We completely support him.” Cuomo, meanwhile, later took to social media to apologize for his recorded outburst.

“Appreciate all the support but — truth is I should be better than the guys baiting me,” he wrote. “This happens all the time these days. Often in front of my family. But there is a lesson: no need to add to the ugliness; I should be better than what I oppose.”

Needless to say, despite CNN’s support of Cuomo and his best efforts to backtrack his heated response to the heckler, the anchor’s equating Italian Americans being called “Fredo” to African Americans being called the n-word (and other forms of racist language) has stirred an unsurprisingly ugly series of debates on social media.

President Trump, whose hatred of CNN and other “fake news” media sources, wasted no time in lampooning Cuomo.

Neither did his large adult son Donald Trump Jr., whose own comment contained a beautiful example of unintentional irony.

A few of the president’s current and former allies, however, actually aligned themselves with Cuomo.

For the most part, however, those who responded to the viral story either recognized the obvious fact that the recorded incident was a plant meant to elicit a response from Cuomo…

…or told jokes, because Twitter.

https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1161315156602712064

(Via New York Times and CNN)