On Wednesday, ex-CNN anchor Chris Cuomo joined Anthony Scaramucci’s “Open Book” podcast to discuss his ousting from CNN in 2021 following multiple scandals while hosting his show “Cuomo Prime Time” as well as the mental toll it took on him.
During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Cuomo would regularly have his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on his show to discuss the health crisis. Many critics said that the relationship was a conflict of interest, as reported by Fox News.
However, it was revealed that Chris’ primetime attention also carried into the background with Chris being involved in a sexual harassment scandal that engulfed the Cuomo governorship, eventually leading to his resignation.
Following this, the anchor and CNN were on thin ice, however, it was a sexual misconduct allegation while the most watched CNN anchor worked at ABC News that finally led to his firing.
“You’ve got to make things happen. There is no luck, there is no fate, there is no destiny,” Cuomo told Scaramucci. “What happens is what you make happen and how you deal with what is made to happen to you, for better and worse.”
“You’ve got to make things happen. There is no luck, there is no fate, there is no destiny,” Cuomo told Scaramucci. “What happens is what you make happen and how you deal with what is made to happen to you, for better and worse.”
“And you know, I make a lot of mistakes — sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad reasons. I’m very flawed,” he said. “There’s damage, there’s damage that’s relatable to people, there’s damage that’s unrelatable to people that I have to deal with that I try to deal with that I do the work on, I still fail.”
“And I have learned to accept that. I had to accept because I was gonna kill everybody, including myself,” Cuomo said. “Things can consume you. Italians are so passionate. And I really had to fight against that because, you know, just like you did, I got too many people counting on me.”
“And look, I’m gonna screw up. And I always tell my kids, you know, almost 20, 17, 13, that — don’t be me,” Cuomo continued. “Learn from me. I love you. I will always love you, doesn’t matter what you do, and I am here for whatever I can do. I’m gonna get angry, I’m gonna screw up, I’m gonna make mistakes, I’m gonna say and do things that you should not say and do. And I try, but I fail. And you have to know that. I’m not here, okay?
“And don’t idolize me because I am no idol. I’m just someone to learn from, for better and worse. And I wish I had been told that more,” the ex-CNN anchor explained. “I wish I didn’t have to go through the same cycle that so many of us do where you put everyone in your life up on a pedestal, because when they fall, that rebound effect is usually too dramatic. And had I just had clearer eyes from the beginning, it would have made more sense sooner.”
As Cuomo has yet to professionally recover from the scandals, and it is unlikely that he will, one can hope that he has learned his lesson from the turn of events. Cuomo has joined NewsNation as an anchor, though his show only averages around 200,000 total viewers.