Disgraced CNN host Chris Cuomo’s upcoming book has been yanked by publisher by HarperCollins, according to a new report.
“Chris Cuomo’s forthcoming book (originally titled DEEP DENIAL) from a HarperCollins imprint has been pulled. ‘We do not intend to publish the Cuomo book,’ a HarperCollins rep tells me,” New York Times reporter John Koblin wrote on Twitter.
Chris Cuomo's forthcoming book (originally titled DEEP DENIAL) from a HarperCollins imprint has been pulled. "We do not intend to publish the Cuomo book," a HarperCollins rep tells me.
— John Koblin (@koblin) December 7, 2021
A spokesperson for the company’s Custom House imprint confirmed the decision to a newspaper. “I can confirm that we don’t intend to publish the book,” spokesperson Kelly Rudolph told the New York Post.
The reports came after another report that the planned hardcover was recently removed from the Amazon website. “DEEP DENIAL,” set to be published next year, was “a provocative analysis of the harsh truths that the pandemic and Trump years have exposed about America — about our strength and our character — and a roadmap of the work needed to make our ideals match reality,” according to a description of the book on Google Books.
CNN suspended Cuomo last week after New York’s attorney general released a drove of documents that showed he had worked behind the scenes to help his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who faced a slew of sexual harassment allegations and was forced to resign. CNN hired a law firm to examine Cuomo’s actions, and then decided that the network had enough cause to terminate him.
Cuomo announced Monday that he had quit his SiriusXM radio show, but a source said he “was forced out of the side gig after a former female colleague at ABC News accused him of sexual misconduct,” the New York Post reported.
“Cuomo ‘really wanted’ to stay on SiriusXM but was told he needed to leave, sources said,” the Post reported.
“The way my time ended at CNN was hard,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter. “While I have a thick skin, I also have a family, for whom the past week has been extraordinarily difficult. So, right now, I have to take a step back and focus on what comes next. That means I will no longer be doing my SiriusXM radio show.”
Still, a source told the Post, “He was asked to resign, which he did.”
The loss of the book deal comes after a woman accused Chris Cuomo of sexual harassment. The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was spurred to come forward after hearing statements by Cuomo.
“Hearing the hypocrisy of Chris Cuomo’s on-air words and disgusted by his efforts to try to discredit these women, my client retained counsel to report his serious sexual misconduct to CNN,” said Debra Katz, according to the Miami Herald.
Katz said her client also believes Cuomo “played an active role in attempting to smear women” who had accused his brother, then-Gov. Cuomo, a Democrat. “Hearing the hypocrisy of Chris Cuomo’s on-air words and disgusted by his efforts to try to discredit these women, my client retained counsel to report his serious sexual misconduct to CNN,” she said.
Cuomo’s team responded. “To the extent that they were sent to CNN to negate what Chris Cuomo told his audience, he fully stands by his on-air statements about his connection to these issues, both professionally and in a profoundly personal way,” a statement from Cuomo’s team said. “If the goal in making these false and unvetted accusations was to see Mr. Cuomo punished by CNN, that may explain his unwarranted termination.”
Meanwhile, Cuomo is reportedly set to sue the network if it doesn’t pay him $18 million to cover the remainder of his contract.
“Cuomo, 51, has hired lawyers and is preparing to file the lawsuit over the remainder of the four-year contract he signed last year — after a bitter back-and-forth about what the network knew of his secret efforts to aid his embattled brother, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said sources familiar with the matter,” the New York Post reported. “His contract was reportedly worth $6 million annually, leaving between $18 million and $20 million that he would be owed, sources said, adding that Chris Cuomo would also likely seek damages.”
But CNN has “no intention of paying Cuomo a penny,” an insider told the Post. “If he gets a settlement, there would be uproar,” the source added. Another source told the paper, “CNN has a standard morality clause in their contract that says if the employee does anything of disrepute, they can be immediately fired.”