Chris Cuomo Fired. Why Stop There?
This is “Not My Party,” brought to you by The Bulwark. What happens when journalists blow the line between objective reporting and political strategery?
A morality play in two parts. We begin with the fall of the house of Cuomo. Last year, these bros were riding high after cable’s hottest buddy comedy hour received rave reviews from thirsty CuomoSexuals.
At “Not My Party,” we were always pretty skeptical that it was a good idea for two brothers to be joshing about their ample nasal cavities.
This was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double barrel shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face.
Especially while a deadly pandemic was laying waste to the state that one of them was governing. Those were some bad optics, but the behind the scenes reality turned out to be worse than we realize. While yukking it up with Chris, Andrew made a critical error by forcing nursing homes to take in contagious residents. And it was later revealed his office fudged the numbers to try to cover up the up.
A few months later a number of women came forward to testify that Andrew’s Italian handsiness had crossed the line into harassment, that was wildly inappropriate at minimum. And as a result he resigned.
This week documents from Attorney General Tish James shed new light on Andrew’s B2 scandal. They showed that Chris who remember was ostensibly a newsman covering the story was simultaneously running PR cleanup for his big bruh.
He even tried to covertly track down information about one of his accusers. So now he’s out on his ass, too.
I understand wanting to provide a little brotherly advice, but this was clearly over the line. So I guess the bigger question I have is, where exactly is the line again? And why do only certain people have to stay inside of it?
Which brings us to part two. The tender women and the vicious snakes. When it comes to journalists being in bed with the people they cover. Well, remember this?
There was another cable news host who literally campaigned for Trump. Hannity was such an influential advisor to Trump that at the time it was said he basically had a desk at the White House. And he wasn’t the only Fox News host giving Trump free under the table advice. The guy basically had all the anchors on speed dial, and then when it comes to running cover for political allies embroiled in #MeToo scandals, Fox journalists had no problem doing that when it came to grabby Roger Ailes, or Donald locker room talk, Trump.
As for cringy cable TV, “Family Affairs.” Well weren’t alone on that score either.
It seems to me like we have an imbalance. Where mainstream outlets and democratic politicians are expected to have standards, and resign when they don’t live up to them. While Fox and the Trumpers get to with impunity because their crowd doesn’t give a shit.
So while I’m shedding no tears for Chris or Andrew who certainly committed a bootable offense. It doesn’t seem like the journalistic rules, the two sides are playing by, are very fair or balanced.
We’ll be back with more fair and balanced coverage.
See y’all next week for more “Not My Party.”