Cuomo stripped of Emmy amid sexual harassment scandal, critics question why he was honored in the first place
'The International Emmys should acknowledge that the award was wrongly given in the first place,' William A. Jacobson said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., is having a rough week. After he resigned on Monday amid a sexual harassment scandal, he was stripped of his 2020 International Emmy Award the next day, and many critics don't think he deserved the honor in the first place.
"These idiots should have pulled this Emmy months ago. Instead, they wait until the day Cuomo is out. Maybe they can give it to his anchor brother, who gave a powerful performance emerging from his basement after faking his own quarantine," Fox News contributor Joe Concha said, referring to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
"The International Academy announced today that in light of the New York Attorney General’s report, and Andrew Cuomo’s subsequent resignation as Governor, it is rescinding his special 2020 International Emmy® Award," the organization told Fox News in a statement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy materials going forward," it concluded.
ANDREW CUOMO HAS INTERNATIONAL EMMY AWARD RESCINDED FOLLOWING SEXUAL HARASSMENT SCANDAL
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had his 2020 International Emmy Award rescinded.
Cuomo originally won the Founders Award "in recognition of his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his masterful use of television to inform and calm people around the world."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}State Attorney General Letitia James concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women in a 165-page report released this month. It was one of several scandals engulfing the Democrat once hailed as a possible White House contender.
Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News that Cuomo is "so toxic" that even the far-left Emmys don’t want to be associated with him, but stripping him of the award now is simply an attempt to erase history.
"What they did was so embarrassing. They gave an award to a lefty governor as part of a media-crafted public relations campaign to build up Cuomo as a possible presidential contender," Gainor said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CHRIS CUOMO RETURNS TO CNN WITH NETWORK'S JOURNALISM ETHICS UNDER A MICROSCOPE
"Now that Democrats won the presidency without him, they can take back their sleazy award and pretend they never ran cover for an accused sex harasser tied to the deaths of thousands of New York seniors," Gainor continued. "That kind of make believe deserves its own award. The academy should give itself an Emmy for Best PR Trying to Make a Thug Appear Like a Decent Person."
Cuomo left office at 12:00 a.m, two weeks after he announced he would resign rather than face a likely impeachment battle. Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson doesn’t think simply rescinding the award is enough punishment and urged the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to admit it shouldn’t have even given Cuomo the honor.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The honorary award never should have been given in the first place because Cuomo's COVID performance was ineffective and arguably cost thousands of lives," Jacobson told Fox News.
"The International Emmys should acknowledge that the award was wrongly given in the first place, not just that it's being revoked for sexual harassment allegations," Jacobson added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The fact that @andrewcuomo got an Emmy and then it was taken away is just a great ending to a story," Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, who lost both her in-laws to COVID after the former governor’s controversial executive order, tweeted.
"Only when he's actually LEFT power do they decide to strip him of his Emmy. Could have been done weeks ago when the reports were confirmed," journalist John Fund tweeted.
DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall said Cuomo was given the award as a "political gesture" and the honor is being taken away for the same reason.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was the academy's way of diminishing Trump's handling of the COVID crisis by bolstering Cuomo and his self-congratulatory, daily television spectacles. Cuomo's televised pressers weren't such great television, really," McCall told Fox News. "They were actually rather boring exercises in self-absorption that gave the appearance of government management when clearly New York was not handling the virus very effectively at all. The award represented big media's mutual support of the government establishment, essentially peddling the Cuomo brand of politics separate from any particular public interest."
McCall feels that since this was a political award in the first place, "it only figures that the academy should now rescind the award based on political purposes," now that Cuomo's fortunes have changed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If his television COVID briefings were so consequential at effectively addressing the crisis initially, they would stand on their own regardless of the recent harassment news," McCall said.
Many more critics blasted the Emmys for awarding Cuomo to begin with, while others mocked the entire ordeal:
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News’ Jessica Napoli and the Associated Press contributed to this report.