Former CNN host Chris Cuomo, who was recently fired for assisting his brother in dealing with his own sexual assault allegations, is now being accused of sexual misconduct himself, as reported by Breitbart.
On Sunday, Attorney Debra Katz released a statement announcing that she was representing an anonymous client who accused the younger Cuomo of misconduct. The accuser decided to make her allegations after Cuomo publicly declared himself to be an ally of feminism, which the accuser considered to be a hypocritical statement.
“Hearing the hypocrisy of Chris Cuomo’s on-air words and disgusted by his efforts to try to discredit these women, my client retained counsel to report his serious sexual misconduct against her to CNN,” said Katz’s statement. “My client came forward at this time because she felt in sharing her story and related documentation, she could help protect other women.”
Cuomo’s accuser was allegedly a coworker of his from a different network than CNN. It is unknown whether or not these new claims played a role in Cuomo’s recent firing.
Cuomo, who hosted “Cuomo Prime Time,” was indefinitely suspended from CNN on November 30th after New York Attorney General Letitia James (D-N.Y.) released text messages between Cuomo and Melissa DeRosa, a former top aide for Cuomo’s older brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.). In the messages, the younger Cuomo was revealed to have sought an active role in shaping his brother’s messaging defending himself against his own numerous sexual assault allegations. After being accused of harassing up to 11 different women, Cuomo resigned the governorship in August.
The texts revealed that Chris Cuomo’s involvement in assisting his brother was much more substantial than he previously told his employers at CNN. With these revelations, he was indefinitely suspended before being terminated on December 4th.
“Based on the report we received regarding Chris’s conduct with his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate,” said a CNN spokesperson on Saturday. “When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.”
A spokesperson for Cuomo, Steven Goldberg, issued a statement denying the allegations.
“To the extent that they were sent to CNN to negate what Chris Cuomo told his audience, he fully stands by his on-air statements about his connection to these issues, both professionally and in a profoundly personal way,” Goldberg said. “If the goal in making these false and unvetted accusations was to see Mr. Cuomo punished by CNN, that may explain his unwarranted termination.”