Media dudes love defending the honor of their hypothetical sex-pest brothers
Chris Cuomo's suspension from CNN has inspired a wave of reply guys desperate to confirm that they, too, would probably do some unethical shit.
On Tuesday evening, CNN suspended longtime star anchor Chris Cuomo, after the New York Attorney General's office released a tranche of new documents detailing the depth of his work advising brother Andrew Cuomo during the latter’s sexual harassment allegations — the ones that eventually saw the elder Cuomo resign as Governor of New York.
That it took this long for CNN to do something about the fact that one of its top personalities had been reportedly moonlighting as a political advisor for a deeply implicated governor is plenty embarrassing — all the more so given the network’s statement that the younger Cuomo’s suspension is indefinite “pending further evaluation,” as if there’s any need to dig deeper than the already grotesque impropriety that’s been on full display for months now. But just as embarrassing — if not more so! — has been ensuing wave of top tier Media Guys using the Brothers Cuomo to breathlessly declare that they, too, would probably do bad things to protect their (theoretically hypothetical) sex-pest compatriots.
From Grey Lady icons:
to (since deleted) Substackaratti:
to pundits-turned-professional-operatives:
to fellow CNNites:
And even one of the same ghoulish enablers (also since deleted) with whom Cuomo the younger reportedly worked alongside to help insulate his brother:
While each of the examples above is slightly different in tone and tenor, the cumulative effect is an overwhelming (and overwhelmingly male) sense of, “Hey, we get it!” from some of the most high profile journalists in the industry. This, to put it mildly, does not — nor should it — engender a whole lot of confidence in a cadre of people who have made national names for themselves for their implied integrity. It’s undeniably strange that the superseding implication here is that supporting your brother or friend who’s been accused of grotesque misuse of power (as both Cuomos have been) must fundamentally come at the expense of your professional verity. As it happens, there was no reason Chris Cuomo couldn’t have stepped down from his perch behind a CNN desk to devote himself fully to his brother’s defense, thereby sparing himself — and his audience — the obvious pantomime of apparent objectivity while trying to have his cake and eat it too.
At this point, despite CNN’s caveat that their imposed suspension could somehow be reversed at the end of their “evaluation,” it doesn’t seem likely that Chris Cuomo will return to the anchor’s chair anytime soon — if ever. That’s good, if long overdue. Unfortunately, based on the response from some of those who occupy the same rarified journalistic air as he once did, there are plenty of others in media who nevertheless seem to feel that exploiting a job predicated on the public trust in the service of familial support — despite plenty of other non-inappropriate ways to be there for a loved one — is a perfectly reasonable proposition.
