CNN Women Remain Silent On Chris Cuomo Amid Outside Calls For Network To Fire Embattled Host

Top female staffers at CNN have remained silent about host Chris Cuomo’s involvement in defending him amid the sexual harassment scandal. Letitia James, New York Attorney General, released transcripts, exhibits, and other documents from her investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. This includes the CNN host’s sworn testimony before investigators in which he admitted to using his media connections to find information on his brother and reporters covering the scandal.

The evidence released also contained text messages that Cuomo sent to his staff offering advice to his big brother. This shocking collection of evidence shows that Cuomo not only violated journalism ethics but also misled CNN viewers by claiming he did not contact reporters on behalf of his brother.

CNN’s female reporters and anchors include several women, but no one has joined the laundry list of media industry figures calling for Cuomo to be fired. Even liberal media outlets are seeing calls to fire Cuomo for his apparent ethical violations and misleading comments about the extent of his involvement with his brother’s political operation.

CNN’s primetime lineup includes Anderson Cooper, Cuomo, and Don Lemon. They are exclusively male among the three major cable networks. Two prominent female anchors, Poppy Harlow and Brooke Baldwin left the network to pursue law master’s degrees.

Mary Katharine Ham, a CNN contributor, did not forget to tweet after she linked to a Variety article on Cuomo’s latest woes and asked how many stories we up to now.

Shelley Ross, an ex-ABC News producer, accused Cuomo of pushing her backside during a 2005 incident at a party. He told her this with arrogance because she wasn’t his boss. Ross did not call for Cuomo to be fired, but she requested that he use his show, which is the most-watched at CNN, to study the effects of sexism and harassment in the workplace. CNN’s female voices did not make any comments about Ross’ claims.

Joe Concha, a Fox News contributor, stated that there was “nothing but downside” for female hosts on the network to address an “untouchable” colleague.

Media sources could not blame the female hosts at CNN for keeping quiet. They also remained silent while UltraViolet, an international organization that advocates for gender equality, demanded that CNN fire Cuomo immediately.

UltraViolet reported that Chris Cuomo joined strategy calls with former Governor Andrew Cuomo on how to respond to numerous sexual harassment claims against him and actively advised his brother to push against the allegations with his position at CNN. They said he should be fired immediately.

UltraViolet stated that this was not just a conversation between brothers about their lives or politics, but a major network anchor who worked to support the former Governor and his attempt to denigrate survivors of abuse and push back against sexual harassment claims. 

Chris Cuomo used his CNN anchor position to manipulate sources and search for information about his brother, adding that this was a serious breach of journalistic ethics. They said CNN should immediately cut all ties to Chris Cuomo and that any less is unacceptable and will further harm survivors of sexual abuse.