Chris Cuomo Accused of Arranging Puff Piece to ‘Silence’ Woman Who Alleged Sexual Misconduct: NYT

CNN fired Chris Cuomo after Jeff Zucker discovered the prime time host had been accused of sexual harassment and assault from his time working at ABC, the New York Times reported on Tuesday night.

The extensive report also said Cuomo contacted the woman during the height of the #MeToo movement, and that CNN ran a “flattering” segment about the company where the woman worked.

Zucker dismissed Cuomo in December, just days after he suspended the host pending an investigation. The suspension came one day after the New York attorney general’s office released transcripts shedding new light on Cuomo’s role in advising his brother, Andrew Cuomo, while he was governor of the state. He resigned from office after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and an attorney general’s investigation found them credible. His cable news star brother had advised him on how to handle the allegations, which raised ethical concerns among media watchdogs.

Cuomo is reportedly seeking the remaining millions of dollars on his contract, and possibly more.

Additionally, Zucker resigned earlier this month after he revealed he had a relationship with CNN’s chief marketing officer Allison Gollust. He said he was supposed to disclose the relationship, but did not. The relationship was an open secret at the network and in the industry for some time, prompting speculation that he left for a different reason.

Gollust resigned from CNN on Tuesday night, around the time the report in the Times was published. WarnerMedia – CNN’s parent company – announced her departure. However, Gollust fired back, accusing the company of reneging a promise to say goodbye to her staff on her own terms. She called the move, “an attempt to retaliate against me.”

The Times report Tuesday indicated that Zucker’s decision to fire Cuomo came after CNN received a letter from Debra Katz, an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment cases. That letter arrived the day after Zucker suspended Cuomo.

According to the Times:

The letter was on behalf of the woman who had worked with Mr. Cuomo at ABC News.

It relayed a story that had begun in 2011 when the woman, who was referred to as Jane Doe, was a young temporary ABC employee hoping for a full-time job. One day, after Mr. Cuomo, an anchor, had offered her career advice, he invited her to lunch in his office, according to the letter, interviews with the woman and emails between her and Mr. Cuomo.

When she arrived, there was no food. Instead, Mr. Cuomo badgered her for sex, and after she declined, he assaulted her, she said. She ran out of the room.

Later that day, the woman, who was still seeking a job, tried to smooth things over by writing Mr. Cuomo friendly emails.

The Times interviewed five friends and former colleagues who said the woman told them Mr. Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests. She said that only in the past year did she begin to tell people that Mr. Cuomo had also assaulted her, which she hadn’t previously divulged because it was private and painful.

The encounter in Mr. Cuomo’s office at ABC was not the end of her story.

The letter alleges that during the height of the #MeToo phenomenon, Cuomo contacted the woman, “seemingly out of the blue.” He offered to do a segment on CNN about the public relations firm where she was employed. According to the letter, the woman attempted to avoid contact with Cuomo, but the network ended up broadcasting the segment.

According to the Times, in the letter Katz described the segment as an “abuse of power at CNN to attempt to silence my client.”

On Dec. 4, 2021, Zucker fired Cuomo – three days after CNN received Katz’s letter.

A spokesperson for Cuomo called the allegations “false” in a statement to the Times.