Cynthia Nixon Criticizes Gov. Cuomo’s Covid Response: ‘He Didn’t Shut Us Down Soon Enough’
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Cynthia Nixon criticized New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the way he’s handled the coronavirus pandemic. Despite Cuomo being largely celebrated for his response to Covid-19, the actress feels “he didn’t shut [New York] down soon enough.”
Nixon ran against Cuomo in the 2018 Democratic primary, and she’s still not a particularly big fan of her former opponent. In an interview with Variety, the Sex and the City star compared the governor to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was applauded in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
“It’s just very much like what happened in 2001 with Rudolph Giuliani, a mayor that I was not a fan of,” she said. “He had a moment: He had a crisis when New York needed him. And in that moment, he showed bravery and he comforted people, but that didn’t change all the terrible things about when he was mayor.”
Nixon went on to say that Giuliani became “a symbol and a hero for people who needed and wanted to see bravery,” much like Cuomo is now. “The thing about Andrew Cuomo — as has always been true of him — is that he can inspire people with his rhetoric,” she added. “I admire his broadcasts, and I think that was something he did well, but the fact of the matter is, he didn’t shut us down soon enough.”
Nixon, whose 9-year-old son attends public school in New York City, went on to condemn New York’s approach to reopening schools. “We spent so much money building hospitals out of thin air,” she said, “but there is none of that approach when it comes to making sure that when 1.1 million schoolchildren go back to school — that ride public transportation and carry germs home to their families.” Nixon added that schools feel like “a perfect storm for a real eruption of the pandemic, because we’re not investing and we’re taking so few precautions.”
As for whether or not she’ll run against Cuomo in the 2022 gubernatorial race, Nixon said she’ll leave that up to another contender. “I know we will have a great challenger. I will be supporting whoever that challenger is. But I also think it would be really, really helpful to have a person of color challenge Andrew Cuomo.”
As we reported at the time, the 2018 Democratic primary debate between Nixon and Cuomo got quite heated. At one point, the governor asked his then-opponent to “stop interrupting,” to which she responded, “Can you stop lying?”
