Chris Cuomo has been fired, CNN says

Anchor has been terminated ‘effective immediately’ after ‘new information came to light’ over his efforts to advise his brother over sexual harassment allegations

CNN has fired Chris Cuomo, the network has announced.

“Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” CNN said in a statement. “We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately.”

The anchor had faced fierce criticism following the revelation that he had been advising his older brother Andrew, then governor of New York, over allegations of sexual harassment.

He was accused of using “sources” to try to dig up dirt on women accusing his brother of sexual harassment.

Following the announcement on Saturday afternoon that he was being fired, Cuomo released a statement saying: “This is not how I want my time at CNN to end but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother.

“So let me now say as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot.

“I owe them all and will miss that group of special people who did really important work.”

On Wednesday the high profile journalist, 51, had said he understood why he had been suspended.

“It hurts to even say it. It’s embarrassing. But I understand it,” he said on his SiriusXM radio show. “And I understand why some people feel the way they do about what I did. I’ve apologised in the past, and I mean it.

“It’s the last thing I ever wanted to do, was compromise any of my colleagues. I know they have a process that they think is important. I respect that process, so I’m not going to talk about this any more than that.”

In August Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor of New York following accusations that he had sexually harassed 11 women, including groping, kissing and sexualised comments, which he denies. He has been charged with a misdemeanor sex crime.

The 63-year-old was already embroiled in controversy over his handling of the Covid pandemic, particularly the decision to send elderly patients back to senior homes.

It later emerged his brother had been advising him on how to handle the sexual harassment allegations.

A 169-page trove of documents was made public detailing text and email exchanges between Chris Cuomo and his brother’s aides about how the former governor would respond to the numerous allegations against him.

The journalist had said he had “tried to be there” for his brother and said he had chosen not to report on the story on air.

He said: “I’m not an adviser. I’m a brother. I wasn’t in control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my take.”