Advertisement

Chris Cuomo Planning To Sue CNN For Breach Of Contract After Having Been Fired

Advertisement

OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo is planning to sue his former employer for breaching his $6 million-per-year contract.

According to the New York Post, CNN’s legal team is “bracing” for a legal battle with Cuomo.

“Fired CNN host Chris Cuomo is set to sue the network if it balks at paying him at least $18 million to cover what’s left on his contract, sources told The Post on Monday. Cuomo, 51, has hired lawyers and is preparing to file the lawsuit over the remainder of the four-year contract he signed last year — after a bitter back-and-forth about what the network knew of his secret efforts to aid his embattled brother, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said sources familiar with the matter,” the Post reported.

“His contract was reportedly worth $6 million annually, leaving between $18 million and $20 million that he would be owed, sources said, adding that Chris Cuomo would also likely seek damages,” the report added.

Cuomo was fired over the weekend after documents revealed he had assisted his brother Andrew Cuomo, who was serving as the governor of New York at the time, as he faced a slew of sexual harassment accusations that led to the governor’s resignation.

Advertisement

Thousands of pages of evidence released by New York Attorney General Letitia James revealed that Chris Cuomo had been involved in speaking with then-Gov. Cuomo’s staff about helping him deal with the accusations against him.

Cuomo’s team argued that CNN President Jeff Zucker knew “about the details of Mr. Cuomo’s support for his brother” and that “there were no secrets about this, as other individuals besides Mr. Cuomo can attest.”

“CNN has a standard morality clause in their contract that says if the employee does anything of disrepute, they can be immediately fired,” another source said.

Cuomo published a statement on his Twitter account this week, saying: “The way my time ended at CNN was hard. While I have a thick skin, I also have a family, for whom the pats week has been extraordinarily difficult. So, right now, I have to take a step back and focus on what comes next.”

It didn’t take long for critics to lambaste Chris Cuomo for helping his brother behind the scenes with advice on how to navigate the sexual harassment allegations against the governor.

The situation is so bad that several left-leaning journalists sounded off on Cuomo, questioning why he is still employed.

Below are some of the responses to the news, via The Daily Wire:

David Harsanyi, National Review: “Chris Cuomo helped his brother cover up his role in the deaths of thousands of elderly NYers. And no one at CNN had a problem with it.”

Advertisement

Jesse Kelly, political commentator: “REMINDER: Andrew Cuomo (and now Chris Cuomo) only went down because DEMOCRATS decided to take them down. They were clearing out the governor’s mansion for other New York Democrats. The GOP would never have enough spine to actually take out an opponent like that.” He continued, “Also, the biggest loser in the Cuomo suspension is Don Lemon. He’s so talentless that Cuomo had to stay over and do the A block of his show with him every night. That’s the most important block in TV. Poor Lemon needed Daddy to hold his hand. Now, he’s alone.”

John Cardillo, political commentator: “Fredo finally got whacked.”

Grant Addison, The Washington Examiner: “Do that water-carrying, pilgarlic hack Stelter next.”

Joe Concha, The Hill: “Chris Cuomo suspended indefinitely. Hard to see how the 9pm anchor returns given the overwhelming evidence of journalistic malfeasance. And if asking who the replacement will be at 9p, I have my money on Acosta. He’s exactly what CNN has become in terms of partisan pious snark.”

Test your skills with this Quiz!

Caleb Hull, political strategist: “Never forget that Chris Cuomo left his house while he knew he had COVID-19 and got into a fight with a cyclist. Then he made a spectacle of when he ‘came out of quarantine’ after two weeks like he never left. CNN never fired him for this.”

Kim Bellware, The Washington Post: “This Cuomo stuff is just so wild for those of us who know we could literally be fired for a mild-sauce tweet.”

Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post: “Fallout from Cuomo scandal has been wide: Chris Cuomo suspended at CNN. Alphonso David ousted as head of Human Rights Campaign. Tina Tchen out as CEO of Time’s Up, after Robbie Kaplan left board over it. Two other longtime Cuomo advisers out at Kivvit firm. And more…” He added, “As one longtime Cuomo person said to me last night: ‘It was such a dark and cynical place. I didn’t really realize that until I left.’”

Advertisement