The Federalist’s David Marcus blasted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who received the 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" at Monday's International Emmy Awards ceremony.
Cuomo receiving the award was widely panned because of his controversial nursing home policy that has been linked to the deaths of thousands of elderly residents. Marcus, however, mocked the situation with a sarcastic column headlined, “Andrew Cuomo Absolutely Deserves An Emmy Award,” that declared he “is not a competent governor of New York, but he does play one on TV.”
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Marcus noted that the award was for Cuomo’s daily press conferences at the beginning of the pandemic, when he gained national attention for explaining how New York was responding to coronavirus.
“What was not mentioned, either in the wording of the award or in the video montage of old New York celebrities congratulating him, was that his response in New York was not only disjointed and shambolic, that the state not only has the highest number of COVID deaths in the country, that he has not only put needless and dangerous doubt on new vaccines, and that he also personally decided to put COVID patients in nursing homes, killing many in the process,” Marcus wrote. “But you see, none of that matters to the Emmy awards, because none of that happened on the television.”
Marcus noted that “these disastrous mistakes by Cuomo did in fact happen, in the real world, that of flesh of blood and dying, but on television, none of these things were spoken of by anchors smitten with his bold yet calm leadership” in the face of crisis. Cuomo was billed as the opposite of President Trump and the mainstream media ate it up, giving him a pass on a variety of issues in the process.
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“The reason Cuomo so dearly deserved his winged Emmy statue is precisely because despite his failings of leadership, he was fantastic on television,” Marcus wrote. “It is all a bit strange, isn’t it? Andrew Cuomo is America’s best governor on television and its worst in real life.”
Marcus ended his takedown by suggesting the people who produce TV often don’t care about the truth, and focus instead on making a compelling product regardless of facts.
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“So as you huddle over your giant bowl of mashed potatoes by yourself this Thanksgiving, governor’s orders, remember to be thankful for Andrew Cuomo and all he has done for television,” Marcus wrote.
Fox News’ Evie Fordham contributed to this report.