Cuomo brothers continue to embarrass CNN as network’s most-watched host can’t cover governor’s scandals

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The Cuomo siblings continue to embarrass once-proud CNN, as the liberal network’s most-watched host is barred from covering the growing scandals surrounding his big brother.

A former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., on Wednesday accused him of sexually harassing her -- including unwanted kissing and touching. The accusations came amid Gov. Cuomo's growing nursing home scandal that has resulted in calls for his impeachment.

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Gov. Cuomo’s baby brother, Chris, hosts "Cuomo Prime Time" on CNN, and he famously conducted playful, on-air conversations with the governor masquerading as news interviews at the height of the coronavirus pandemic’s early stages. But now that Gov. Cuomo is under fire, CNN has banned his brother from uttering his name.

"CNN bent over backwards so far accommodating Gov. Cuomo that they twisted their news into propaganda. Now that they’ve been caught, they simply push the scandal under the rug and tell anchor Chris Cuomo he can’t cover his brother after embarrassing the network," Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo was criticized for a series of lighthearted interviews with his older brother and the network has since banned him from covering the governor’s multiple scandals.

"If they had any ethics, CNN would have stopped this garbage before it happened," Gainor added.

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The Cuomo siblings often joked on CNN about who their mother loves more, teased  each other, sometimes played with oversized Q-Tips, and largely avoided lingering questions about the governor’s role in thousands of nursing home deaths across the Empire State.

Chris Cuomo’s glowing portrayal of his brother helped him emerge as a hero among liberals, who was admired and fawned over during the first months of the ongoing pandemic. He was given an Emmy award, wrote a book on leadership and was regularly praised by the mainstream media.

Cuomo, who his baby brother sometimes affectionately refers to as the "Love Gov," has since been accused of withholding data on COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes to avoid federal scrutiny and even bullying political opponents, in addition to the new sexual harassment claims. The "Love Gov" is now facing intense backlash over the scandals, including a federal probe into his administration's handling of the crisis. 

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As a result, CNN announced last week it reinstated a ban on its 9 p.m. ET hocovering or interviewing his older brother. The original ban on Chris Cuomo interviewing his big brother was lifted early on in the pandemic, a move that would tarnish CNN's reputation. But the liberal network decided to enforce the ban once again, just in time to save the "Cuomo Prime Time" namesake from being forced to mention his big brother’s multiple scandals and controversies.   

Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson feels CNN has "completely mishandled" the Cuomo brothers.

"Chris never should have been permitted to cover his brother Andrew as news, and that CNN failure has only grown with time. The possible demise of one of the most powerful Democrats – Andrew -- now cannot be covered seriously by CNN because CNN never handled Andrew seriously in the past," Jacobson told Fox News.

The Cuomo brothers yucking it up and joking with giant test swabs was a low point that shall live in infamy

— William A. Jacobson

"The Cuomo brothers yucking it up and joking with giant test swabs was a low point that shall live in infamy," Jacobson added.

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DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall feels that "CNN made a major ethical stumble when it initially allowed the Cuomo brothers to do a regular schtick" on a prime time news program. He told Fox News the on-air bonding sessions "made for a CNN-concocted narrative that the governor was the charismatic leader the nation needed during a health crisis" but the decision will haunt the liberal network.

"That was playing with fire at the time and now that ethical breach looks quite bad. The governor is now under criticism on the healthcare front and on the harassment matter. Chris will continue to host his show, but surely with no mention of the governor's issues. This will clearly be a news agenda problem from the standpoint of omission," McCall told Fox News.

"Even though the topic will presumably be OK for other CNN anchors and hosts, it is unlikely the governor's growing controversies will get much coverage anyway," McCall added. "To give wide coverage of the governor's problems would look like eating crow at this point, something CNN is unlikely to want to do."

The latest embarrassment for the Cuomo family bubbled up when Lindsey Boylan, the former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor, said he constantly sought her out and had staffers arrange meetings with her, where he made inappropriate comments. 

"Let’s play strip poker," Boylan said Cuomo remarked on a flight from an event in October 2017, according to an essay she wrote on Medium published Wednesday. 

In another encounter in December 2016, Boylan said Cuomo arranged through a handler to meet her in his Albany office, to which she agreed reluctantly. She said he gave her a tour of his office, "smirked" and showed off a cigar box he said was given to him by former President Bill Clinton while he served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

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Boylan said she interpreted that to be an innuendo referencing the affair between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the mid-1990s. 

She said she was warned by other staffers when she joined Cuomo's administration in 2015 to "be careful around the Governor."

Boylan wrote in another incident, this time in Cuomo's New York City office, he kissed her on the lips. 

"I was in shock, but I kept walking," Boylan wrote. 

Boylan previously accused the governor of harassment last year but did not elaborate on her experiences at the time. 

Cuomo's office did not respond to Fox News' numerous requests for comment on Thursday -- but a spokesperson previously said in December that "There is simply no truth to these claims."

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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., immediately called for Cuomo to resign following Boylan's story, calling him the "Worst Governor in America" and a "criminal sexual predator." 

However, anyone who relies on CNN’s most-watched program for news won’t have any idea that Gov. Cuomo is no longer the media darling that "Cuomo Prime Time" spent months painting him as.

Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.