CNN blowhard and Prime Time host, Chris Cuomo was publicly accused of sexual harassment by former ABC executive producer Shelley Ross in The New York Times on Friday. She was spurred on by Cuomo’s defense of his brother amid sexual misconduct scandals. Cuomo admitted they had the interaction, but in a heated audio recording secretly captured by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, he denied such accusations and raged at the women making them and those digging into his past.
According to Ross’s account, “he walked toward me and greeted me with a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock.” He even bragged to her: “I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss.”
It was the kind of action he would grow indignant about in his denials to Cohen, some 15 years later.
Over a year ago, on September 1, 2020, Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson played the audio in which Cuomo flew into a rage at the suggestion of sexually harassing women at ABC, going after the reporters trying to look into the accusations:
CUOMO: Do you know how many f-[bleep] phone calls I've gotten from people at ABC who say that reporters are calling and lying about things they heard about me to try to get stories about me when I was at ABC? Guys calling and saying, “I heard he was the Charlie Rose of ABC. He used to invite women to the hotel and open his, you know, bathrobe.” Do I look like the kind of f-[bleep] guy who's got to do that?
COHEN: Sure, why not? But you're in --
CUOMO: So I really have a good source that says that he forced one woman to have sex. I just want to know if you've ever heard anything like that. There is no woman.
“There is no woman.” Really Chris?
In a comment to The Times regarding Ross’s accusations, Cuomo admitted that the interaction occurred. “As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. It happened 16 years ago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. I apologized to her then, and I meant it,” he said.
But further in the audio he lashed out at any woman who would make accusations against him, suggesting they were making it all up:
Women who do work, they're saying, “oh, yeah, you know, some of these men” -- and naming me with other guys, you know, we bumped into each other once in the elevator and he put his hand on my shoulder and he made me really uncomfortable. I mean, what the f-[bleep]?
These were the guys who wanted credit for telling his piggish brother to be contrite with his victim in public statements. Now we know what he thinks behind the scenes.
“When Chris and Michael get together, they can let their hair down and be themselves, so Chris spares Michael the #MeToo lecture,” Carlson pointed out. “Instead, he says and we're quoting here, ‘I mean, what's the F?’”
Will anyone else step forward? Will Cuomo address the accusations on his show? Is his career on the line? Only time will tell.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
September 1, 2020
8:45:28 p.m. Eastern[Cuts to video]
CHRIS CUOMO: You know, I'm always careful when I talk to media, you know?
MICHAEL COHEN: Right.
CUOMO: Do you know how many f-[bleep] phone calls I've gotten from people at ABC who say that reporters are calling and lying about things they heard about me to try to get stories about me when I was at ABC? Guys calling and saying, “I heard he was the Charlie Rose of ABC. He used to invite women to the hotel and open his, you know, bathrobe.” Do I look like the kind of f-[bleep] guy who's got to do that?
COHEN: Sure, why not? But you're in --
CUOMO: So I really have a good source that says that he forced one woman to have sex. I just want to know if you've ever heard anything like that. There is no woman.
COHEN: Right.
CUOMO: There is none of that.
COHEN: So here's the problem.
CUOMO: Women who do work, they're saying, “oh, yeah, you know, some of these men” -- and naming me with other guys, you know, we bumped into each other once in the elevator and he put his hand on my shoulder and he made me really uncomfortable.
I mean, what the f-[bleep]?
COHEN: It's a problem. And now you saw --
CUOMO: So, I am careful with the media always. I've always told you, the media is not your friend.
COHEN: No.
[Cuts back to live]
