The woman who claims Chris Cuomo sexually assaulted her in his office in 2011 was driven to come forward after watching him declare on-air in March 2021 that he cared ‘deeply and profoundly’ about the #MeToo movement and the sexual harassment claims against his brother.
The woman has not been named publicly but she raised her complaint with CNN in December, after Cuomo had been suspended for inappropriately consulting his brother while he was being accused of sexual misconduct while the Governor of New York.
His firing led to the resignation of Jeff Zucker, and the ousting last night of Zucker’s girlfriend and top aide Allison Gollust. They were pushed out to failing to report the affair.
Gollust is furious that WarnerMedia announced her departure to staff before she had a chance to. She declined to say whether or not she plans to sue the company now for any kind of payout, or if one was negotiated before it was decided that she would leave.
Cuomo’s accuser claims that in 2011, when she was a staffer on ABC News and Chris was on-air talent, he invited her to his office for lunch and career advice but offered her no food, ‘badgered’ her for sex and then attacked her. She says she ran out of the room afterwards. He denies her claim.
For ten years, she was silent about it until she watched Chris declare on his CNN show on March 2, 2021, that he cared ‘deeply and profoundly’ about sexual harassment.
He was talking about the allegations against his brother, the Governor of New York, and why he could not cover them on CNN. He was later fired for advising Andrew through the scandal.
‘Before we start tonight let me say something that I’m sure is very obvious to you who watch my show. I’ll be straight with you. Obviously I’m aware of what’s going on with my brother and obviously I cannot cover it because he is my brother. Now, of course
‘CNN has to cover it. They have covered it extensively and they will continue to do so. I have always cared very deeply about these issues and profoundly so. I just wanted to tell you that,’ he said.
March 2021: ‘I have always cared very deeply about these issues and profoundly so. I just wanted to tell you that,’ Chris Cuomo said during his show while he explained why he couldn’t cover the sexual harassment allegations against his brother Andrew. The woman who says he assaulted her was watching
The New York Times, having reviewed the woman’s complaint, reported on Tuesday night that that was the moment Cuomo’s accuser decided to take action.
Chris Cuomo’s accuser said she sympathized with some of Andrew Cuomo’s accusers and felt she had a similar story
She is said to have felt there were similarities between her story and those of the women accusing Governor Cuomo of abuse.
The woman hired attorney Debra Katz, who wrote a letter to CNN on December 1 alleging what had happened.
She also claimed that Cuomo had gotten in touch with the woman randomly during the #MeToo movement to tell her he wanted to do a segment on the firm she did PR for.
The accuser interpreted it as a thinly veiled threat to her not to come forward with her own story.
She is not the only woman who has accused him of misconduct; Shelley Ross, a former executive at ABC, said he groped her at a 2005 party and Melanie Buck claimed that she asked to be removed from Cuomo Prime Time because she found his conduct to be threatening.
Cuomo was ultimately fired for inappropriately helping his brother by crafting statements for his PR team.
On his way out, Cuomo and his lawyers demanded the $18million that was remaining on his contract but Jeff Zucker refused to pay it, citing his breach of contract and impropriety as the reason.
Cuomo’s attorneys then unleashed hell, reporting the affair with Gollust and insinuating that Zucker was also cosy with his brother.
Allison Gollust is spotted earlier this week, left, in her Upper East Side apartment building. Jeff Zucker is shown, right, out and about in NYC. Gollust is furious about how she has had to leave the company
Chris and his wife Cristina have been married since 2001. He has always denied the allegation of sexual misconduct
Zucker had been in touch with Cuomo, as had Gollust, to get him to appear on CNN during the pandemic.
He knew them both, having hired Gollust as his communications director in 2012.
Shelley Ross, a former executive producer of Cuomo’s Primetime Live show, previously accused him of groping her at a party in 2005
He was so impressed by how she had arranged a Hamptons clambake birthday party for his then-girlfriend, Sandra Lee, that he decided to bring her onto his team, according to the Times piece.
After just four months in the role, she went to join Zucker at CNN.
Zucker is said to have been hurt and ‘misled’ by Cuomo after Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation came to a close.
Zucker and Chris were close – in 2018, when Zucker was recovering from heart surgery, the pair would go for long walks in Central Park.
Late Tuesday, a spokesperson for the former CNN anchor issued a statement regarding The New York Times report and insisting that the real reason all three were fired was their involvement with Governor Cuomo.
‘It is clear this was never about an undisclosed relationship,’ according to the statement posted to Twitter by a Wall Street Journal reporter.
‘As Mr. Cuomo has stated previously, Mr. Zucker and Ms. [Allison] Gollust were not only entirely aware but fully supportive of what he was doing to help his brother.
‘The still open question is when Warner Media is going to release the results of its investigation and explain its supposed basis for terminating Mr. Cuomo.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk