Just four days after announcing that he would be indefinitely suspended from the network, CNN has terminated host Chris Cuomo following an investigation conducted by a law firm that it said had turned up “additional information” about him.
Cuomo was suspended by CNN on Tuesday, a day after documents released by New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that he was more extensively involved in helping to defend his brother, then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, against allegations of sexual misconduct than he had acknowledged — either publicly or to CNN management.
The network had said at the time that Cuomo’s suspension was “pending further evaluation,” though it did not say how long that process would take or who would conduct it.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the network said: “Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense. We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately. While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”
The network did not say what that “additional information” related to.
CNN president Jeff Zucker broke the news in a memo to employees on Saturday evening. “Today, I let Chris Cuomo know that we are ending his employment at CNN,” he wrote. “It goes without saying that these decisions are not easy, and there are a lot of complex factors involved. But as always it was important to me to be upfront with each of you.”
Cuomo acknowledged his abrupt termination in a statement he posted on Twitter.
“This is not how I want my time at CNN to end but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother,” he said. “So let me now say as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot. I owe them all and will miss that group of special people who did really important work.”
Following his suspension on Tuesday, the 9 p.m. hour on CNN had been hosted this week by anchor Anderson Cooper, who extended his normal 8 p.m. show. Next week, Cuomo’s time slot is scheduled to be filled by CNN Saturday morning host Michael Smerconish.
The network had not announced hosting plans beyond next week, and will now have a bigger task on hand: to find a permanent 9 p.m. host.
Cuomo’s suspension led to a round of speculation about whether he would ultimately leave the network, but someone close to the situation told The Washington Post on Wednesday that Cuomo’s fate had not been decided and that the network would be guided by the results of the “further evaluation” that it pledged to conduct on Tuesday.
On his SiriusXM radio show on Wednesday afternoon, Cuomo told listeners that he was “embarrassed” by the network’s decision to suspend him, which he said “hurts.” He said he would respect the network’s evaluation process and stay quiet in the meantime. “I know they have a process that they think is important,” he said. “I respect that process. So, I’m not going to talk about this anymore than that.”
Source: Washington Post
