A woman who filed a sexual harassment charge against Chris Cuomo was “disgusted” by what she says was the former CNN anchor’s hypocrisy and his attempts to discredit women who have come forward, according to her lawyer.
The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was spurred to come forward after hearing statements by Cuomo, who was suspended last week by CNN before being fired.
“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. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY). “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.
The woman’s complaint was revealed after CNN fired the “Cuomo Prime Time” anchor.
“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,” the 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.”
CNN suspended Cuomo on Tuesday after New York’s attorney general released a drove of documents that showed he had worked behind the scenes to help his brother, who faced a slew of sexual harassment allegations and was forced to resign as governor. CNN hired a law firm to examine Cuomo’s actions, and then decided that the network had enough cause to terminate him.
Cuomo addressed the issue in August, when allegations were pouring in about his brother. He told his CNN audience shortly after Andrew Cuomo resigned in August that “it’s never easy being in this business and coming from a political family.”
“I never attacked, nor encouraged anyone to attack, any woman who came forward,” Cuomo said on the air. “I never made calls to the press about my brother’s situation.”
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.”