New York’s AG “Gets After” CNN’s Chris Cuomo
"Let's get after it!"
After eight years of Chris Cuomo uttering his catchphrase “Let’s get after it”... The news anchor may have finally “Gotten it”, meaning… Done, Gone, Finished, Terminated. That is, after becoming entangled in the dysfunctional backstory of his older brother’s sexual harassment investigation.
Since Tuesday, the “Primetime” anchor has been absent from the Cable News Network, an absence characterized by a CNN spokesperson as an indefinite suspension, “pending further evaluation.” An evaluation that some speculate may lead towards a much heavier punishment or termination.
The ball started rolling Monday as New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James - who has been investigating Cuomo’s older brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo - released documents detailing the younger brother’s actions to assist big brother Cuomo with dismantling the state AG’s sexual harassment investigation and associated media coverage. James’ investigators laid out emails, as well as Chris Cuomo’s own testimony, that showed that the news anchor pressed sources for information about the governor’s eleven accusers and then back-channeled that intel to the governor’s staff. Even going a step further, by participating with efforts to hone the governor’s responses to the damaging charges.
Cuomo’s involvement with his brother's case is something that has been in the ether since May, when The Washington Post revealed that Cuomo had consulted with his brother’s aides; forcing CNN to release a statement describing the journalist’s actions as inappropriate - yet choosing at the time to not discipline him.
Then came the allegations of Cuomo’s own sexual harassment by television executive, Shelley Ross, who in September wrote a column in the The New York Times describing an incident, 16 years ago, where the news man groped her.
When asked to respond to Ross’ claim, Cuomo told the Times, “I apologized to her then, and I meant it.”
Yet the public damage to the charismatic news personality, happening in the midst of his brother’s own sexual scandal, had been done; perhaps causing the soft gloves of CNN President Jeffery Zucker to harden up.
Not to be overlooked here either was the network’s allowance for Cuomo to interview his big brother live on “Primetime”, during the spring of 2020 - a timeframe when New York was considered the Coronavirus Hot-Zone. A springtime where Cuomo interviewed the governor not once, but six times… with Cuomo saying during one of those on-air moments, “I love you as a brother, obviously I’ll never be objective, obviously I think you’re the best politician in the country.”
And not to be overlooked even further…
Gone are the days of true, straight new anchors… Cronkite, Brinkley, Murrow… Ooops!
Enter the present day slanted, advertorial personalities who fake the nightly news while pushing their agendas 24 / 7. It was not too long ago, when us Americans owned the air-ways that television providers utilize. As owners, we allowed them to broadcast their sit-coms, dramas, game shows, etc and in return they agreed to present the news - information vital to our public discourse. In the beginning, these newscasts were run by principled journalists, who were not beholden to ratings or advertising dollars… just the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability. Yet, somehow - over the years and decades those journalistic endeavors were Murdoch’d & Turner’d into the ugly, ratings driven, profit seeking business divisions of today.
Whether it is FOX News' Sean Hannity one night wining and dining with President Donald Trump and then the next evening proselytizing to the MAGA-verse on everything from Middle East Policy to GOP’s Big Election Lie or Cuomo's own twisted - Family First - defense of his brother from abused ladies and his own party’s efforts to remove him from power… It all equates to the same disfigured, gross state of OUR mainstream media(s).
Imagine you are CNN’s Head Honcho, Jeffery Zucker - or Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav, who has just merged with CNN - you have to see the oversized writing on the wall… Primetime’s Chris Cuomo has got to go! Through any prism you choose to examine this scandal, Cuomo clearly violated every definition of Journalistic Integrity!
Adios Chris Cuomo… your “getting after it” days are finito!
Now... Anderson Cooper… Don’t let me down!
