CNN Fires Chris Cuomo Days After Suspension

Just days after CNN said it was suspending its longtime leading prime-time host Chris Cuomo for providing guidance and journalistic help to his brother, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, to combat sexual-harassment allegations, the network has fired Cuomo.

“We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review and have terminated him, effective immediately,” CNN has said in a statement. “While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light.”

While CNN did not disclose details of the additional information, it added: “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”

This comes after a story in The New York Times on Saturday cited an allegation of sexual misconduct against Chris Cuomo -- information CNN received on Wednesday, according to the newspaper. CNN told the Times it already had caused to fire Cuomo before the news was disclosed.

A representative for Chris Cuomo, speaking to The New York Times, denied the allegation.

The Cuomo-hosted “Cuomo Prime Time” at 9 p.m. had been CNN’s No. 1 regularly scheduled show in prime time in terms of viewership -- but coming in well behind Fox News Channel's “Hannity” and MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” in the time period. In November, "Cuomo Prime Time" was at 791,000 Nielsen measured viewers; "Maddow", 2.1 million; and "Hannity", 3.23 million.

Earlier in the week, CNN announced Michael Smerconish, a CNN Saturday-morning host, would fill in for Cuomo during the 9 p.m. hour next week.

Cuomo posted a statement on Twitter on Saturday: “This is not how I wanted my time at CNN to end, but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother. 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 #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.”

Cuomo came to the cable news network in 2013, after working at ABC News on “20/20” and “Good Morning America.”

1 comment about "CNN Fires Chris Cuomo Days After Suspension".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 6, 2021 at 12:04 p.m.

    Much is being made that CNN is losing it's prime time "star" as Cuomo  ws the highest rated of CNN's prime time entries. But look at the stats cited here. 800,000 "viewers per commercial minute" is a pitiably poor showing compared to the MSNBC or FNC stats. And Cuomo has had plenty of time to build up a loyal following. So, I wouldn't weep for CNN about axing Cuomo. The question really is how can CNN begin to seriously contend with its rivals in prime time yet work within the confines of traditional "journalism"?Rachael Maddow was doing just as poorly in the Nielsens some time ago,yet she has made solid gains----and held most of them. Why? By sticking to the left-orientation that characterizes her channel while at the same time being quite professional in her execution. CNN's problem is that it tries to be all things to all people where news is concerned---and this works in terms of weekly reach as CNN attracts more headline scanner viewers per week than FNC or MSNBC---but they don't stick around  long to gulp down lots of its content- hence much lower average minute ratings for CNN.

    Perhaps the solution is for CNN to veer left and challenge MSNBC head on as it certainly won't go in the other direction. Or, maybe, try to find a more stable but charismic "star" to act as the linchpin for a reinvigorated prime time lineup. Maybe someone from Hollywood or one of the comedy channels or  a radio personality?

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