*In the immediate hours after the Chris Cuomo incident where he was seen on video threatening a man with a beatdown for calling him “Fredo,” Cuomo’s CNN bosses had his back.
Now that a few days have passed and folks at the network have gathered their thoughts, it seems that the suits and the rank and file are now admitting to being “embarrassed” by the dustup
In the viral video, the “Cuomo Prime Time” host told the guy who called him “Fredo” that the “Godfather” reference was a racial slur “like the ‘N-word’” for Italian Americans. Cuomo also called him “a punk-ass bitch” and told him, “I’ll fu*king ruin your sh*t. I’ll fu*king throw you down these stairs.”
Page Six is reporting …
One insider said they personally thought the run-in was “great” and that Cuomo would get a pass from higher-ups because “he’s BFFs with [CNN president Jeff] Zucker.” Another said the newsroom chatter was that “everyone thinks it’s fine to stand up to trolls, but it escalated way past where it needed to.” While they said Cuomo generally has a good reputation with the staff, “It was embarrassing.” They added, “It was an unforced error, and he gave the right — and the president — ammunition to use against him and CNN.”
Of course, the orange a-hole in the White House couldn’t help himself. Seeing how he’s a CNN/Cuomo hater, he just had to get a piece of the action. He went in on the newsman via Twitter, saying among other things: “I thought Chris was Fredo also. The truth hurts. Totally lost it! Low ratings [CNN],” and calling him “nuts.”
In the aftermath of the video surfacing, CNN made this statement in defense of Chris Cuomo:
“Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him.”
But wait. There’s more. Twitter users called out CNN and Cuomo for saying “Fredo” is an ethnic slur:
“Take it from an actual Italian, ‘Fredo’ is not racist against Italians. The Godfather has all Italian characters and one loser brother is called Fredo. That doesn’t amount to the ‘n word’. How is this even an issue?” — Alessandra Bocchi.
Stephen A. Crockett, Jr. from “The Root” wrote: “Cuomo’s reaction is perfectly fine for me. I’m not Italian, so I’m not bothered by the word Fredo, but unless there is another Fredo who was stolen from his homeland, enslaved, beaten, ripped from his children and forced to watch as his wife was raped, then Fredo is nowhere close to the n-word.”
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