Don Lemon Suggests Gov. Cuomo ‘Should Be More Concerned’ About Family’s ‘Legacy’ Than Staying in Office

CNN’s Don Lemon floated the possibility that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would be better off resigning in light of the sexual harassment allegations lain out against him.

On Friday night, Lemon spoke with Errol Louis about Cuomo’s political prospects after the explosive report from New York Attorney General Letitia James. Lemon brought up a Quinnipiac poll that found that most New York state voters believe Cuomo should resign.

As Lemon and Louis acknowledged the poll results, the CNN anchor simultaneously remarked that “I have heard people say ‘I don’t think it was that bad,’ or ‘I don’t think he should resign.'” This prompted Lemon to ask Louis what he thinks of people saying Cuomo shouldn’t step down.

Louis called this an “immoral argument” since it implies that “11 women should put up with harassment” to allow for Cuomo’s political survival.

“He could be a really good governor who did some really crummy things to some women, for which, he’s going to be expected to pay the price,” Louis said.

As the conversation continued, Lemon kept this topic afloat by asking whether Cuomo ought to think about his family’s political legacy in terms of whether to resign or not.

There’s the political legacy of the Cuomo family. That is, that Andrew Cuomo should be more concerned about that at this point than anything in trying to save or rescue that. Is that a fair assessment?

Louis agreed with the question’s premise, saying that it could resonate with Cuomo if his family confronted him over the damage he has done to their public image.

While the suggestion from Lemon was tepid at most, it’s interesting that he would raise the possibility of Cuomo’s resignation, especially due to Lemon’s well-known friendship with the governor’s brother and his fellow CNN prime-time anchor Chris Cuomo.

CNN was swept up by Andrew Cuomo’s scandal last week as critics slammed the network for how much positive coverage they gave him last year during the coronavirus pandemic. Chris Cuomo is inextricably tied to this because not only did he breach journalistic ethics by conducting fawning interviews with his brother, he also apparently tried to help the governor formulate a strategic response to his accusers.

So far, Chris Cuomo has chosen to ignore his brother’s scandal on air, and he’s going on vacation while the firestorm continues to unfold. By contrast, Lemon has acknowledged the scandal surrounding his friend’s brother.

Watch above, via CNN.