New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s ever-deepening sexual harassment scandal gained steam this week with a third woman coming forward to speak with the New York Times while detailing her accusations against the politician. This update follows two former Cuomo aides coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, all on top of the nursing home probe, which involves accusations that Cuomo mishandled data about the deaths of COVID-fueled deaths of residents.
The intensification of scrutiny upon Andrew Cuomo with these twin issues led people to wonder whether his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, would be covering the stories on Cuomo Prime Time. Well, Chris let everyone know on Monday night that “[o]bviously I am aware of what is going on with my brother.” He added, “And obviously I cannot cover it because he is my brother.” And he pointed out that his colleagues “have covered it extensively and they will continue to do so.”
>> @ChrisCuomo at the top of @CuomoPrimeTime tonight: "Obviously I am aware of what is going on with my brother. And obviously I cannot cover it because he is my brother. Now, of course CNN has to cover it. They have covered it extensively and they will continue to do so." pic.twitter.com/G49mZYTG4D
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 2, 2021
This was bound to cause some backlash, given that Chris hosted Andrew on the show many times during New York City’s initial COVID surge and beyond. And during this time period, Chris even whipped out a giant Q-tip swab to joke about the size of his brother’s nose. The jovial tone didn’t go over well with a lot of people, considering the massive loss of life that was ongoing due to the virus, and Meghan McCain was front and central with her criticism at the time.
I’m not sure I’m going to ever be able to buy a crib or baby clothes for my first child in a store, Most of my friends are jobless, petrified and dealing w depression & @JaniceDean lost both her mother and father in law to covid within a week of each other. This is HILARIOUS guys https://t.co/f0A5XcQauk
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) May 21, 2020
So, it stands to reason that Meghan would also be ready to come for Chris over his Monday admission that he can’t cover Andrew’s sexual harassment scandals for CNN. “So you interviewed your brother a thousand times with giant q-tips joking about his sex life during covid but now that he’s an accused predator, it’s a conflict?” Meghan tweeted. “Give me an absolute break. Hypocrites. This is ground zero of why the American public doesn’t trust ANY of the media.”
So you interviewed your brother a thousand times with giant q-tips joking about his sex life during covid but now that he’s an accused predator, it’s a conflict?
Give me an absolute break. Hypocrites. This is ground zero of why the American public doesn’t trust ANY of the media. https://t.co/hh3jK7Gswa
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) March 2, 2021
Her point is not unfounded. “Obviously I can’t cover it because he is my brother” is, at best, an awkward thing to say now, given that Chris was onboard with doing flattering segments about Andrew. Everything has seemingly changed now, and this puts Chris in a difficult position, to say the very least, with different contexts and accusations of subjectivity flying. Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien joined in with her criticism of Chris’ stance, and she was not alone.
Hmmm maybe the media reporter could explain to us why the jokes with Governor/brother was cool but now scandal/brother= cannot discuss. Hmmmm. https://t.co/Da8UnS9Lq3
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 2, 2021
“Obviously I can’t cover it because he is my brother” would have been a pretty good rule from the beginning https://t.co/VlYFTWgVmB
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) March 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/JayCaruso/status/1366714672464998405
If Chris Cuomo is allowed to do flattering segments about his brother, why can’t he do unflattering ones? https://t.co/fMA4Q7hVCv
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) March 2, 2021
CNN had no problem with Chris Cuomo hosting Andrew on the show nightly to talk about how great his COVID response was before we knew he was fudging the numbers.
Now that there are three accusations of sexual harassment it's no longer ok?
Good luck with that, CNN. https://t.co/uyPVFzmaJW
— The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) March 2, 2021
Too effing late. https://t.co/Z1O816ppwB
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) March 2, 2021
He can't cover his brother?! What changed?! pic.twitter.com/iw4eNqTzgf
— Thomas F.X. Sullivan (@IrishHoodlum) March 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/dsonoiki/status/1366572562902355974
Yep, that Q-Tip joke didn’t have a ton of fans when it took flight, and it’s definitely aged poorly.