Chris Cuomo Wants $125 Million From CNN For ‘Unlawful’ Firing
Chris Cuomo wants an arbitrator to award him $125 million for his firing from CNN, alleging his bosses knew full well how he advised his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and suggested they did the same themselves.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Chris Cuomo, who was at the time the host of the network’s most popular primetime show, interviewed his big brother on CNN nine times — a temporary lift of the network’s policy that Chris Cuomo shouldn’t participate in stories concerning the governor. In his filing Wednesday, Chris Cuomo said CNN leadership demanded the interviews even though he and his brother had “expressed reservations about them” even though at the time, Chris Cuomo wrote plenty of tweets defending his coverage of his brother’s campaign.
The filing seeking arbitration on Wednesday exposed more ugliness at the network, where Cuomo, CNN chief Jeff Zucker, and his top executive, Allison Gollust, have all been ousted in the past three months. Gollust and Zucker were having a consensual relationship when Zucker fired Cuomo in December after a New York Attorney General’s report publicly revealed new details about how he helped his brother strategize to fight sexual harassment allegations.
When we reported that Chris Cuomo repeatedly received preferential covid-19 testing from his brother's administration as tests were scarce in the state, CNN defended him. Now, Chris Cuomo says the executives got the special treatment, too. https://t.co/x4JnXjULpx https://t.co/FhsxFNZbvc
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 16, 2022
With his journalistic integrity “unjustifiably smeared,” Cuomo claims it will be “difficult to find work in his field” in the future and seeks damages of $125 million, the complaint said.
Ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyy, Chris Cuomo throws them ALL under da’ bus 🚌! https://t.co/nzqcGArC7e
— TheCyberChick (@warriors_mom) March 16, 2022
Cuomo also dragged two former colleagues into his complaint, saying Don Lemon and Jake Tapper were “never disciplined for incidents seen as ethical lapses,” citing Lemon texting Jussie Smollett when the actor was accused of making false allegations of a racist attack, and Tapper allegedly offering advice to a politician.
Remember when Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon would spend 10 minutes each night telling each other "I love you" while saying they were brothers?
Oh, how times have changed!https://t.co/THEI6rH17l pic.twitter.com/8v9zexvbx2
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) March 16, 2022