Dec. 4 (UPI) — CNN announced Saturday that it has fired anchor Chris Cuomo after an investigation into his efforts to help defend his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, against sexual harassment allegations.
The network suspended Chris Cuomo indefinitely on Tuesday but issued a statement Saturday evening that he had been terminated “effective immediately” after a law firm it kept on retainer conducted a review.
“While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” CNN said. “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
Chris Cuomo thanked his coworkers and staff in a statement shared to Twitter following the news.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
CNN initially said it “appreciated the unique position” Chris Cuomo was in and “understood his need to put family first and job second” when he admitted he broke the network’s rules in aiding his brother’s defense.
However, the network moved to suspend him after New York Attorney General Letitia James released new documents including text messages between Chris Cuomo and Melissa DeRosa, a top aide to his brother in which he said he would use his “sources” in news media to alert his brother’s team of stories featuring new accusations.
Andrew Cuomo resigned in August after a state investigation found he sexually harassed 11 women and was charged in October with a misdemeanor sex crime for allegedly groping a woman at the Executive Mansion in 2020.
