The International Emmy Awards announced Friday that it would be presenting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with the International Emmy® Founders Award, “in recognition of his leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic and his masterful use of television to inform and calm people around the world.”
Gov Andrew M Cuomo of NY will receive the International Emmy Founders Award in recognition of his leadership during the Covid19 pandemic & his masterful use of TV to inform & calm people around the world. The Emmy will be presented to @NYGovCuomo on Nov 23 https://t.co/dwKIImwYNV pic.twitter.com/1mKkmg6FKW
— International Emmy Awards (@iemmys) November 20, 2020
This honor comes as the U.S. Justice Department is investigating Covid-19 nursing home deaths in New York.
The Democrat governor has denied accusations that his administration’s now infamous directive mandating that nursing homes accept patients diagnosed with the coronavirus contributed to NY’s disproportionately large number of deaths.
Even so, evidence of Cuomo’s ill-fated March 25th nursing home order has been deleted from the New York State Department of Health’s website.
With over 34,000 fatalities due to the coronavirus, New York leads by far all of the other states in the number of deaths by the coronavirus, while it is number five on the list of total cases in the United States.
The Emmy® award recognizing Cuomo for his allegedly outstanding job handling Covid-19 crisis will be presented to the governor at 11 AM ET, on the Academy’s website www.iemmys.tv, on November 23.
“The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” said International Academy President & CEO, Bruce L. Paisner. “People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and New York tough became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”
The Founder’s Award is presented to an individual or organization who “crosses cultural boundaries to touch our common humanity.” Prior recipients include Vice President Al Gore, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven Spielberg.
On March 2, 2020, New York Governor Cuomo conducted a media briefing from Albany, the State’s capital, to inform and educate New Yorkers and the public at large about the coronavirus outbreak that was just starting to be recognized as a massive public health threat. That 12-minute introduction, part of a 34-minute session with other state leaders, was the first of 111 consecutive daily briefings for New Yorkers and the wider world about the grim progress of the worst pandemic to hit the United States in a century. The briefings were carried live by New York’s local TV stations, nationally on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and other news outlets in the U.S. and around the world. The last “daily” briefing was held on June 19, 2020. These daily communications have drawn a total of 59 million viewers.
Not everyone is on the same page as the Emmys regarding the NY governor’s “leadership” during the pandemic.
please stay tuned through the 18 hour "In Memoriam" segmenthttps://t.co/IDbmQD3VAQ
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) November 20, 2020
The thousands of New Yorkers who lost relatives in nursing homes thanks to Andrew Cuomo's March 25th order forcing them to accept covid positive patients are probably very happy for him https://t.co/6TPLV7gqUw
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 20, 2020
Andrew Cuomo deserves to be on trial for the elderly people his nursing home order directly murdered. Instead, he's getting an Emmy. https://t.co/06wlXtP2pq
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) November 20, 2020
I wonder if the @TheEmmys will add an extra in memoriam section after they give @NYGovCuomo his award remembering all the seniors who died thanks to his amazing leadership skills.
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) November 20, 2020
In fairness to Cuomo, he probably does deserve an award for masterfully using television as a propaganda tool to distract from his absolutely disastrous pandemic response and nursing home disaster. https://t.co/emryPIYAyt
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 20, 2020
I guess if @TheEmmys award goes to an actor pretending to be a governor, then @NYGovCuomo deserves it. pic.twitter.com/nKwQRfLz4n
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) November 20, 2020
Cuomo’s administration, meanwhile, refuses to make public data from privately-owned and publicly-run nursing homes in the state.
The DOJ sent letters to Cuomo in August and October requesting data on the number of residents, employees and staff who died of COVID-19 at the nursing homes.
A copy of the DOJ’s letter to the New York Department of Health reported by the New York Post requested that the state provide the requested data within 14 days. Thus far, the numbers remain hidden from the public. Fox News asked the DOJ if the state responded to their inquiry, but the department did not immediately respond.
The state has so far only accounted for approximately 6,500 COVID-19 deaths that occurred in nursing homes.
New York has a total death count of more than 34,000 people, and it remains unclear what percentage of those deaths were nursing home patients who perished as a result of Cuomo’s ill-fated directive.