CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, brother of disgraced ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, has now been caught up in a “me too” scandal of his own after being accused of sexual harassment. The event happened back in 2005, but Cuomo’s accuser said that she was motivated to come out and tell her story because Chris encouraged his brother to fight his own sexual harassment charges.
The accuser, seasoned TV journalist and senior executive Shelly Ross, describes the event as follows; “When Mr. Cuomo entered the 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 quotes Cuomo as saying, ‘I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss.'”
She responded saying, “No, you can’t,” and pushed him away. Ross’ husband is said to have been present and witnessed the event at close proximity. At that time Ross was executive producer for an ABC production called Primetime Live. Cuomo was one of the anchors for the program at the time.
Ross says that she and her husband left the bar immediately after the event and that Cuomo sent her an apology via email one hour later. According to Ross, the email apology was more an apology to her husband than to her. Cuomo refers to him as “good and noble” in the email. Now, this accusation is 16 years old as such accusations often are, and Ross says that she does not want Cuomo to lose his job over it.
This year has been a tough one for Chris. He faced scrutiny for interviewing his brother while his brother was still serving as governor. He was unable to report on any of the scandals surrounding his brother, and Chris was also named in a series of sexual accusations involving the former governor. Investigators have found that Chris was working on the side, off the books, as an advisor to his brother just as the accusations against him were hitting the news.
Last year, Chris Cuomo claimed to have contracted COVID-19 and broadcast his show from his basement. Around that time, he had been in an altercation with a bicyclist in which he threatened the man with violence.
But for those of us who have little interest in the CNN anchor, he is probably best remembered for claiming on-air that it was against the law for anyone other than the media to possess Wikileaks reports regarding Hillary Clinton’s email scandal in which she disposed of evidence that she was selling influence to foreign powers.
In October 2016 Chris Cuomo said on air, “Also interesting, remember, it’s illegal to possess these stolen documents. It’s different for the media — so everything you’re learning about this, you’re learning from us.”
