The fall of the Cuomo brothers: How the one-time media darlings spiraled downward in 2021

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his younger brother, former CNN star Chris Cuomo, were beloved media figures who could do no wrong in the eyes of liberals when 2021 began, but a scandal-plagued year has seen the siblings fall swiftly from grace. 

A year ago, it was hard to imagine the Cuomo brothers would be out of a job and pariahs in their respective orbits of politics and media. The governor's approval had soared in New York over his handling of the pandemic, he'd won an Emmy for his daily press conferences, scored a lucrative book deal about his COVID-19 leadership, and even been floated as a possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. 

Chris Cuomo's CNN show flourished in 2020, averaging 1.8 million viewers to make it the liberal network's highest-rated program, getting more than 2 million on average during the months he was allowed to conduct friendly interviews with his brother, who he affectionately called the "Luv Gov." 

The interviews included prop comedy, jokes about their mother, and mutual expressions of love and admiration that entertained some media corners. The Washington Post even fawned over the siblings in a story headlined, "’The comedy routine America needs right now’: The Cuomo brothers return to prime time."

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But the Cuomo-on-Cuomo interviews bothered some observers who considered them a clear violation of obvious ethics. 

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean emerged as an outspoken critic of the Cuomo siblings when her in-laws were among the thousands of seniors who died in New York nursing homes following the governor's controversial directive mandating they accept COVID-positive patients. She said her grief turned into rage during the infamous interview that included Chris Cuomo using comically oversized cotton swabs to mock the size of his brother’s nose after he took a coronavirus test. 

"That was the tipping point," Dean wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News Digital. "We were all quarantined and couldn’t have wakes or funerals for my husband’s parents after they tragically died in their long-term care facilities. Yet, these two clowns… were yucking it up on cable television."

Dean first spoke out about her frustrations with the Cuomos the day after the infamous bit, when the brothers were still darlings of the liberal media who could do no wrong in the eyes of their adoring supporters – but she wasn't the only media member who objected to the arrogance broadcasted on CNN. 

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Lindsay Nielsen, a former Albany-based investigative reporter who accused Cuomo’s administration of intimidation and bullying, feels the Cuomo siblings being beloved by the liberal media ultimately resulted in their downfall. 

Much like Dean, Nielsen also came forward when she saw them "doing these jokey presentations" on CNN and ended up cooperating with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation as a result. 

"It was kind of grotesque to be honest," Nielsen told Fox News Digital. 

"A lot of people that came forward with allegations against both of them mentioned watching them on TV kind of motivated them [to speak out]. They were portrayed as media darlings," Nielsen said. "Their rise in the media really had a lot of people angry and people who had bad experiences thought, ‘What we know of them is not pleasant … I wish the public knew who these people really were.’"

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Nielson said she vividly remembers watching one of the former governor’s appearances on his brother’s CNN show and asking her husband, ‘Who do they think they are?"

The cascade of negative headlines began early in 2021 as the governor's coronavirus policies came under a microscope. That, coupled with revelations he gave priority coronavirus treatment to family members including his brother, accusations of a cover-up of nursing home deaths from federal authorities, and the wave of harassment allegations were the start of his downfall, as well as his brother's.

As 2021 winds down, the Cuomos are in the wilderness. 

There are no more playful, on-air banter sessions masquerading as interviews, CNN doesn’t even have a permanent host for the coveted 9 p.m. ET timeslot once occupied by "Cuomo Prime Time," and Kathy Hochul is the governor of New York. 

Andrew Cuomo resigned in August over multiple sexual harassment allegations, with James’ scathing state investigation detailing he also presided over a toxic, retaliatory environment. The governor accused state investigators of bias, saying the report accusing him of sexually harassing 11 women from 2013 to 2020 in violation of state and federal law is evidence of a "lack of fairness in the justice system," but he stepped down anyway. He admitted to making jokes and giving hugs and kisses to "women and men," but claimed he never crossed the line in his mind. 

"New York tough means New York loving, and I love New York and I love you," Cuomo said during his resignation announcement. "I would never want to be unhelpful in any way, and I think given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore, that’s what I’ll do."

The scandal felled his brother as well, with Chris Cuomo finally fired by CNN last week after a cache of documents showed he was extensively involved in helping his brother's political team weather the accusations. 

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The now-former "Cuomo Prime Time" host misled viewers and CNN executives alike – Cuomo's spokesperson has said there were "no secrets" between his client and CNN boss Jeff Zucker – while snooping on his brothers' accusers and journalists investigating the matter, and accusations against him of sexual misconduct separate from his brother also surfaced this year. CNN had stood by the younger Cuomo for months but ultimately parted ways with him after an onslaught of negative attention was simply too much for the liberal network to withstand. 

David Marcus, a prominent New York-based columnist, feels it was inevitable the ex-governor’s sparkle would eventually dim, and his little brother’s fall from grace was essentially collateral damage. 

"The elevation of Andrew Cuomo as a kind of ‘anti-Trump’ at the start of the pandemic put both him and his brother in a difficult position. The governor was vaulted into such a position of prominence, and treated so blamelessly, even as the nursing home scandal unfolded that a fall from grace was almost inevitable," Marcus told Fox News Digital. 

"That left Chris with a choice between his brother and his job, and he chose his brother," Marcus added. 

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However, others feel Chris could have helped Andrew without crossing the lines of journalistic and moral ethics in the process. 

"This wasn’t just brothers talking about their lives, or even about politics. This was a major network news anchor actively working to support the former Governor of New York in pushing back against sexual harassment allegations and denigrating survivors of abuse," UltraViolet, a leading national gender-justice organization, campaign director Elisa Batista told Fox News Digital. 

OutKick media columnist Bobby Burack feels TV anchors are judged just like athletes and leadership weighs upside versus downside when making such a move. 

"I think early in the process, when the Cuomo stuff came out, CNN looked at it and said, 'You know what? That doesn't look great for us. It's a problem, it's a bad look, however, he's our No. 1 anchor. He's coming off a very successful 2020 where he really established CNN at the 9 p.m. hour,’" Burack told Fox News Digital, noting that Cuomo’s downside overtook his upside once headaches began to pile up. 

"Early on CNN said, ‘This guy's a headache, but he's worth it' … Finally, they said he's no longer worth the headache and made the easy decision this time, which was to move on from him," Burack said. 

Zucker told staffers this week that he was comfortable with how he handled the situation, although in retrospect he may have acted sooner. A CNN source told Fox News Digital this week there was "universal relief" within the network that Chris Cuomo was gone.

Andrew and Chris are both now unemployed, marking a stunning fall from grace for the siblings who were regularly celebrated by the liberal media only one year ago. 

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"Did I ever think they would both be done in this way? Absolutely not. But it’s very encouraging to know that our truth matters," Nielsen said. 

Fox News and OutKKick share common ownership.