Chris Cuomo has been suspended as an anchor for CNN. In a new report issued by The New York Times, the news network made the decision to indefinitely suspend one of their most prominent anchors after it was revealed that he attempted to assist his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo after he was accused of sexual harassment multiple times.
While Chris Cuomo had already apologized for working with his brother’s political aids, new evidence obtained by The New York Times revealed that Chris’s role in aiding his brother after the accusations was “more intimate and involved than previously known.”
Investigation Reveals Chris Cuomo Offered Substantial Help to His Brother
In a statement issued by CNN, they revealed that after receiving the documents from New York attorney general Letitia James’s investigation, the contents of them “raised serious questions.” CNN did not know about the contents of the investigation until it was made public on Monday.
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“When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly,” the network said. “But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second. However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew.”
“As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation,” CNN concluded. What the investigation showed was that Chris sent handfuls of emails and text messages to Andrew’s “inner circle.” Many of those messages included advice, even asking to “help with prep” and tracking down the status of pending articles from other news organizations about the accusations against his brother.
While tracking down stories and other reports of more accusers, one text message to Andrew’s top aide Melissa DeRosa revealed that he was tracking a woman who said Andrew made unwanted advances toward her while at a New York City wedding. “I have a lead on the wedding girl,” Chris said in his text.
When asked about this particular text, Chris Cuomo told investigators that he heard from a friend that “maybe she had been put up to it,” The New York Times reported. As Mamas Uncut previously reported, Chris has also been accused of making unwanted advances toward one of his former producers.
Shelley Ross, a former executive producer for ABC, came forward to accuse CNN anchor Chris Cuomo of sexually harassing her. Her reason for coming forward with the accusation in September was so that Cuomo can “journalistically repent” for his behavior.
In a statement, Ross said, “At the time, I was the executive producer of an ABC entertainment special, but I was Mr. Cuomo’s executive producer at ‘Primetime Live’ just before that.”
“I was at the party with my husband, who sat behind me on an ottoman sipping his Diet Coke as I spoke with work friends. When Mr. Cuomo entered the Upper West Side bar, he walked toward me and greeted me with a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock.”
Ross continued to say that after squeezing her Cuomo said that he “can do this now that you’re no longer my boss.” The former producer said Cuomo made that comment with a “kind of cocky arrogance.”
Ross scolded Chris for his behavior, which he had apologized for later. In the email Cuomo reportedly sent to Ross, he apologized while admitting he was ashamed of how he acted. “…Though my hearty greeting was a function of being glad to see you … Christian Slater got arrested for a (kind of) similar act, (though borne of an alleged negative intent, unlike my own)…and as a husband, I can empathize with not liking to see my wife patted as such.”
Cuomo then asked Ross to pass along an apology to her “very good and noble husband,” before adding, “I apologize to you as well, for even putting you in su]ch a position.”