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Amid his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s, sexual harassment and assault scandal, CNN host of “Cuomo Prime Time,” Chris Cuomo, is taking time off.
The host made the announcement on an episode of his podcast, with fellow CNN host Don Lemon, titled “The Handoff,” The Daily Mail reported.
Cuomo said that it was a long planned vacation that comes on the week of his birthday that eh takes off every year, but the timing is kind of convenient.
“’Every year I take my birthday week off. I’m looking forward to it,” Cuomo, who is about to be 51, said.
“I’ll be right here at home because I don’t know why I’d go anywhere else than the East End of Long Island during the summer. It’s the most beautiful place in the world,” he said.
“I’ll be fishing, I’ll be hanging out with you, and I’ll be making memories with the kids,” he said.
You have to wonder if one of those memories is “Uncle Andy assaults women.”
In his timeslot for Monday Cuomo is being replaced by an episode of the new Dana Bash series “Being” featuring New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Throughout the series, Bash spends time with individuals affecting American policy, politics, and culture to give viewers an understanding of the human being behind the public face,” the announcement said.
Executives with the network informally proposed the idea that the younger Cuomo could take an optional leave of absence to advise his brother and return to the network later, sources told The New York Times.
The possible leave of absence was suggested in May when the Washington Post revealed Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s scandal.
In response to the proposal, Chris Cuomo told network executives he wanted to continue on his primetime program while obeying rules preventing him from commenting on the scandal, sources told The New York Times.
Chris Cuomo also promised not to discuss his brother’s crisis strategy with any government officials besides Andrew Cuomo himself, according to the outlet.
The new revelations reflect comments Chris Cuomo publicly made at the time, telling his followers on air that he was ‘truly sorry’ for taking part in the strategy calls – and adding that he compromised his colleagues at the network.
“I understand why that was a problem for CNN. It will not happen again. It was a mistake because I put my colleagues here, who I believe are the best in the business, in a bad spot. I never intended for that. I would never intend for that and I am sorry for that,” he said at the time.
Cuomo had said on his show, when allegations against his brother first surfaced, that he would not talk about it on his show, which was a promise he kept this week as his show ignored his brother’s scandal.
“Obviously, I’m aware of what’s going on with my brother,” Chris Cuomo said on Monday. “Obviously, I cannot cover it because he is my brother. Now, of course CNN has to cover it. They have covered it extensively and they will continue to do so,” he said in March.
“I have always cared very deeply about these issues, and profoundly so. I just wanted to tell you that,” he said.
But it has been reported that Chris had been involved with helping his brother throughout his scandal, something that Meghan McCain commented on this week.
“Do you want to talk about nepotism? Not having to talk about the worst scandal in the country, when it has to do with your brother, and you’re hosting CNN: that’s nepotism,” she said.
“The Cuomo family and CNN are the worst kind of nepotism the media has an example of,” she said. “If it were my brother, if my brother were somehow the governor and he had been accused of this, you are damn straight I’d be talking about it on ‘The View’ this morning. And it makes all of them cowards.”
“I hope that Governor Cuomo is either forced out of office or resigns, and that his brother Chris Cuomo has any kind of retribution whatsoever for his show,” she said.