Chris Cuomo officially terminated from CNN following investigation
Chris Cuomo has been fired from CNN.
The journalist, who is the brother of Andrew Cuomo, was suspended indefinitely from the news network in November after it was uncovered that he had advised the former governor of New York following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. The Department of Justice is currently investigating the sexual harrasment claims made against the former NY leader.
While Andrew stepped down from his public office in August, and was replaced by Kathy Hochul, Cuomo kept his job at CNN, and side-stepped coverage of Andrew’s controversy due to the familial conflict of interest. However, after it came to light that Cuomo had close ties to his brother’s defense, many employees at CNN were angry that he still maintained his role on the network.
In August, a CNN staffer told Buzzfeed News, “The fact that Chris Cuomo wasn’t fired over his inappropriate conflict of interest in actively affecting a news story is not only irresponsible of CNN, but also a disgrace to journalism.”
Now, CNN has terminated Cuomo’s employment as they have determined that the longtime TV personality inappropriately used his influence and resources as a journalist to gather information about Andrew’s accusers.
“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. We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately,” CNN shared in a statement on Saturday, Dec. 4. “While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
In his own statement, Cuomo said, “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. 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."
Cuomo made his CNN debut in 2013. Prior to his time on CNN, he was a correspondent for ABC News and a co-anchor of 20/20.