Chris Cuomo #

Introduction #

Chris Cuomo, who anchored CNN’s top-rated primetime show Cuomo Prime Time, was fired by the network on December 4, 2021, after an internal review found his involvement in his brother’s defense went far beyond what CNN had previously known. CNN said “additional information” had come to light during a law firm’s review of his conduct, and terminated him “effective immediately.”

Background Information #

Cuomo was born Christopher Charles Cuomo on August 9, 1970, in the New York City borough of Queens, the youngest child of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and Matilda Cuomo, and the brother of Andrew Cuomo, the state’s 56th governor.

He earned an undergraduate degree from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of Law in 1995, and is a licensed attorney. He spent more than a decade at ABC News as chief law and justice correspondent, 20/20 co-anchor, and Good Morning America news anchor (2006-2009). In February 2013 he moved to CNN to co-host the morning show New Day, and in June 2018 he began hosting Cuomo Prime Time, which became CNN’s top-rated program in its primetime slot.

During the early COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Cuomo interviewed his brother on air. Once reports of sexual harassment allegations against Andrew surfaced, Chris said on his program in March 2021 that he could not cover them, acknowledging his obvious conflict of interest.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

In May 2021 it was reported that Cuomo had participated in strategy sessions advising his brother on how to respond to the allegations. CNN called the engagement “inappropriate,” saying “it was inappropriate to engage in conversations that included members of the Governor’s staff, which Chris acknowledges.” Cuomo apologized on air, calling it a mistake that would “never happen again,” while multiple CNN staffers said they were “vexed” by his conduct. Jake Tapper told The New York Times that Cuomo put the network in “a bad spot,” saying, “I cannot imagine a world in which anybody in journalism thinks that that was appropriate.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James found that Andrew Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women, and the governor resigned in August 2021, avoiding a likely impeachment trial. Chris Cuomo said he had urged his brother to resign but insisted, “I never attacked nor encouraged anyone to attack any woman who came forward. I never made calls to the press about my brother’s situation and I never influenced or attempted to control CNN’s coverage of my family.”

In September 2021, Shelley Ross, a former ABC News and CBS News executive producer, wrote a New York Times essay describing an incident in which she said Cuomo groped her at a colleague’s going-away party in 2005. Cuomo responded, “As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature… I apologized to her then, and I meant it.”

On November 29, 2021, the New York attorney general’s office released documents showing that Cuomo had used his media sources to uncover information about his brother’s accusers, inquired about the possibility of new accusers, and helped formulate statements for Andrew. In one email transcript released that week, Cuomo wrote to aides “I have a lead” on one accuser. The disclosures appeared to contradict his August on-air claim: he told investigators about calls he made to other journalists to learn what they knew about accusers.

CNN responded that the documents “shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s defense” and “point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew,” suspending him indefinitely pending further evaluation. Cuomo, suspended on November 30, called it “embarrassing” but said he understood “why some people feel the way they do about what I did.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

Calls for CNN to fire Cuomo grew louder during his suspension. Marissa Hoechstetter, a victims’ rights advocate, tweeted that his “unethical behavior” should be “disqualifying for a journalist,” and Charlotte Bennett, one of Andrew Cuomo’s accusers, said: “Just like his older brother, Chris Cuomo used his time, network and resources to help smear victims, dig up opposition research, and belittle our credible allegations.”

On December 4, 2021, CNN terminated Cuomo, saying he “was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” that the network had “retained a respected law firm to conduct the review,” and that it had “terminated him, effective immediately.” In a memo to staff, CNN president Jeff Zucker wrote, “Today, I let Chris know that we are ending his employment at CNN.”

Cuomo responded: “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.” Around the same time, attorney Debra Katz told CNN that a client, described as a junior colleague at another network, had alleged sexual misconduct against Cuomo; his spokesperson denied the “apparently anonymous” allegations and called the termination “unwarranted.”

The fallout continued after the firing. Cuomo left his SiriusXM program on December 6, and on December 7 HarperCollins said it would not publish his planned book, Deep Denial. In March 2022 he filed a demand for arbitration claiming $125 million in damages against Turner Services and CNN America, arguing that his “journalistic integrity” was “unjustifiably smeared.”

Current Status #

On July 26, 2022, Cuomo announced he would host a new primetime program on NewsNation, the Nexstar Media Group-owned channel. The series, titled Cuomo, premiered on October 3, 2022; he said he had “learned lessons good and bad” since his firing and argued that “extremes are not America’s majority.” He also launched a podcast, The Chris Cuomo Project, in July 2022. At the end of 2025, NewsNation noted that Cuomo’s show was the network’s “highest-rated show.”

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The firing abruptly ended a CNN career that began in 2013 and had made Cuomo the face of the network’s primetime lineup, then cascaded into further losses: his SiriusXM radio program, his book contract, and millions in disputed contract value. In that filing, he claimed his reputation had been so damaged that finding similar work was impossible. In a February 2022 recorded interview, he said that after the firing he “was going to kill everybody including myself.” He eventually returned to cable news on NewsNation, a far smaller outlet than CNN — a partial rebuilding of a career derailed by his brother’s scandal.