Concha: CNN has 'no credibility,' Chris Cuomo allowed to break every rule
A New York Times report says the CNN anchor regularly spoke with Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the past week and advised him to resign. Fox News contributor Joe Concha with reaction.
New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa urged CNN boss Jeff Zucker to fire Chris Cuomo on Thursday, but he doesn’t expect the liberal network to actually part ways with its most-watched host.
"I think this is Zucker saying, ‘Nobody's going to tell me what to do,’" Sliwa told Fox News minutes after delivering a letter to the CNN honcho calling for the "Cuomo Prime Time" namesake to be fired.
NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE CURTIS SLIWA CALLS FOR CNN TO FIRE CHRIS CUOMO: ‘HE IS CULPABLE’
CNN needs to fire Chris Cuomo, New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa told Fox News. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) ( )
CNN’s "Cuomo Prime Time" host was part of a team of external, devoted advisors to soon-to-be-former Gov. Andrew Cuomo who contributed to a culture allowing the governor's "sexually harassing conduct" to "flourish," a scathing state investigation revealed last week.
The report from New York Attorney General Letitia James, D., also showed that CNN’s Cuomo helped his big brother craft a statement in February as allegations poured in. Once the report was released, the outgoing governor was widely criticized for the way he spoke about his accusers until finally deciding to step down.
"The evidence is such that Chris became complicit. He was not just a brother, he was the wartime consiglieri. And for that, he’s implicated," Sliwa said. "He is a part of that cabal, that response that was so mean, so not necessary. And it was obviously he helped craft that language. He’s got to go."
New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa called for CNN to fire Chris Cuomo.
Sliwa said CNN’s Cuomo is "clearly tainted now" and could have survived the scandal if he simply offered brotherly advice.
"He could have opted to be the peacetime consiglieri and say, ‘Look, things are bad. There's no way out of this. You don't want to be vilifying the people who are making the accusations,’ he could have actually created a path out of this to avoid all of this. But he decided to dig in with his brother," Sliwa said. "Now, how can he be considered impartial in any way?"
Sliwa said Chris Cuomo’s actions have put a "stain" on CNN’s international reputation as a place to go for news and information.
"The hallmark is damaged," he said. "The fact that I and others are calling it Cuomo News Network, that’s not a good thing."
The GOP mayoral nominee is concerned that CNN’s 9 p.m. ET host wouldn’t be able to fairly cover politics going forward because so many prominent figures came out against his sibling.
Sliwa noted Democrats that Chris Cuomo would "normally have been very warm and fuzzy to" called for his big brother to step down. The laundry list of politicians on both sides of the aisle that called for Gov. Cuomo to resign included both President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Sliwa held a press conference outside of CNN’s New York City headquarters on Thursday demanding the network "fire Fredo now." Sliwa's campaign also handed out "Fire Fredo" signs to supporters at the press conference and live-streamed the event on Sliwa's Facebook page.
Some critics have referred to CNN’s Cuomo as "Fredo" since a 2019 incident where he snapped at a man who used the term to greet him at a bar.
CNN'S CHRIS CUOMO SEEN IN UNVERIFIED VIDEO CURSING AT MAN WHO APPARENTLY CALLED HIM 'FREDO'
Fredo is a reference to Fredo Corleone, the weak brother in the movie "The Godfather," who was played by John Cazale. However, the fictional Fredo eventually fell out of his family’s good graces and Sliwa doesn’t think the "Cuomo Prime Time" host would ever let that happen.
"He wants to prove he’s no Fredo. He’s with his brother," Sliwa said. "Just as Michael Corleone said, ‘Family is everything. Don’t ever turn your back on family,’ Chris does now want to go down in history as Fredo here. It definitely bothers him to be called that and knows the ramifications, that you know, you’re soft, you’re weak, you have no intelligence … he will never want to be perceived of as Fredo."
Sliwa feels Chris Cuomo would rather "go down with the Good Ship Cuomo" than earn the Fredo moniker the rest of his life.
In 2019, CNN’s Cuomo erupted when he was called Fredo in public and even compared it to a racial slur.
"No, punk-ass b----es from the right call me 'Fredo.' My name is Chris Cuomo. I'm an anchor on CNN," a heated Cuomo said. "'Fredo' was from 'The Godfather.' He was a weak brother and they use that as an Italian slur — are any of you Italian? ... It's a f---ing insult to your people. It's an insult to your f--ing people. It's like the N-word for us. Is that a cool f---ing thing?"
Curtis Sliwa presented a letter addressed to CNN president Jeff Zucker during a press conference on Thursday.
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Following Thursday’s press conference, Sliwa delivered a letter addressed to Zucker formally calling for the network to fire Chis Cuomo. Sliwa told Fox News he was not able to directly hand it to the CNN honcho, but a underling met him in the lobby and ensured it would land immediately on Zucker’s desk.
CNN has not publicly disciplined Chris Cuomo since the state report came out, but the liberal network has banned its 9 p.m. host from covering his brother. He is currently away from CNN on what is being labeled a long-planned vacation and refused to answer questions when confronted by Fox News earlier this week.
CNN did not respond to a series of questions, including whether or not Chris Cuomo will be allowed to address his brother’s resignation or whether the network will allow "Cuomo Prime Time" to cover politicians who called for the soon-to-be-former governor to step down.
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