By long tradition, any story involving the hapless, journalist ethics-challenged Chris Cuomo automatically qualifies as the bottom story of the day here at the timeline. The day's finally over, so here we are.
- Chris Cuomo accused of sex attack during office ‘lunch’; another CNN exec resigns
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This report summarizes a 2011 incident involving Chris Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment of a female co-worker at ABC News:
The “Cuomo Prime Time” host was fired in December after details emerged about how he helped his brother respond to sexual harassment allegations last year. But The New York Times reports he was only suspended for advising the politician, and the decision to fire him came shortly afterwards when an unnamed accuser came forward accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Chris Cuomo allegedly invited the “young” woman to his office for lunch when he was working at ABC News in 2011, with the pretext of giving her advice on getting a full-time job at the network. A letter sent to CNN lawyers said there was no food when she arrived and that Cuomo pressured her for sex, then attacked her when she declined.
According to the New York Post, Cuomo allegedly contacted “Jane Doe” five years later in hopes of keeping her from speaking out during #MeToo accusations, and offered to do a flattering report about her then-employer.
The next article gets into a very strange episode involving what we're calling a "quid pro Chris Cuomo" involving that latter incident.
- Chris Cuomo Accused of Arranging Puff Piece to ‘Silence’ Woman Who Alleged Sexual Misconduct: NYT
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This report focuses on the journalism ethics-challenged Chris Cuomo's alleged attempt to "buy" the continued silence of a female co-worked he allegedly subjected to a 2011 sexual assault when both worked at ABC News after multiple women began advancing sexual harassment charges against his politically-powerful brother, Andrew M. Cuomo.
CNN fired Chris Cuomo after Jeff Zucker discovered the prime time host had been accused of sexual harassment and assault from his time working at ABC, the New York Times reported on Tuesday night.
The extensive report also said Cuomo contacted the woman during the height of the #MeToo movement, and that CNN ran a “flattering” segment about the company where the woman worked....
The Times report Tuesday indicated that Zucker’s decision to fire Cuomo came after CNN received a letter from Debra Katz, an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment cases. That letter arrived the day after Zucker suspended Cuomo.
According to the Times:
The letter was on behalf of the woman who had worked with Mr. Cuomo at ABC News.
It relayed a story that had begun in 2011 when the woman, who was referred to as Jane Doe, was a young temporary ABC employee hoping for a full-time job. One day, after Mr. Cuomo, an anchor, had offered her career advice, he invited her to lunch in his office, according to the letter, interviews with the woman and emails between her and Mr. Cuomo.
When she arrived, there was no food. Instead, Mr. Cuomo badgered her for sex, and after she declined, he assaulted her, she said. She ran out of the room.
Later that day, the woman, who was still seeking a job, tried to smooth things over by writing Mr. Cuomo friendly emails.
The Times interviewed five friends and former colleagues who said the woman told them Mr. Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests. She said that only in the past year did she begin to tell people that Mr. Cuomo had also assaulted her, which she hadn’t previously divulged because it was private and painful.
The letter alleges that during the height of the #MeToo phenomenon, Cuomo contacted the woman, “seemingly out of the blue.” He offered to do a segment on CNN about the public relations firm where she was employed. According to the letter, the woman attempted to avoid contact with Cuomo, but the network ended up broadcasting the segment.
According to the Times, in the letter Katz described the segment as an “abuse of power at CNN to attempt to silence my client.”
A spokesman for Chris Cuomo claimed the allegations of sexual assault are false.
