Chris Cuomo says he apologized to his former boss.
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment by his former boss at ABC, who brought the claims to surface in a New York Times op-ed Friday.
In the op-ed, former executive producer Shelley Ross says the “Cuomo Primetime” host once sexually harassed her in March 2005 when they worked together at ABC News.
“I was at the party with my husband, who sat behind me on an ottoman sipping his Diet Coke as I spoke with work friends. When Mr. Cuomo entered the Upper West Side bar, he walked toward me and greeted me with a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock,” she wrote. “‘I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss,’ he said to me with a kind of cocky arrogance. ‘No you can’t,’ I said, pushing him off me at the chest while stepping back, revealing my husband, who had seen the entire episode at close range. We quickly left.”
She added that soon after leaving the party, she received an email from Cuomo who said he was “ashamed.” In the email, Cuomo apologized to her and her husband.
A copy of the email was placed in the body of the essay for proof.
Ross wrote that she “never thought that Mr. Cuomo’s behavior was sexual in nature,” but described it as “a hostile act meant to diminish and belittle his female former boss in front of the staff.”
Ross wrote the essay just weeks after Chris Cuomo’s brother, Andrew, resigned from office as the governor of New York over sexual harassment allegations. Andrew Cuomo has denied the allegations made against him.
Ross says that Chris Cuomo needs to "journalistically repent" for his behavior.
“I have no grudge against Mr. Cuomo; I’m not looking for him to lose his job. Rather, this is an opportunity for him and his employer to show what accountability can look like in the #MeToo era,” she wrote. “Accountability has been the cornerstone of the #MeToo movement, leading to tangible results and even justice, consequences for harassers and the possibility of real change.”
Chris Cuomo apologized for having “inappropriate” conversations with his brother’s staff when the sexual harassment allegations against the governor surfaced this summer.
When Inside Edition Digital reached out to CNN and Chris Cuomo’s publicist for “Cuomo Primetime” for comment, they directed us to his statement he gave The New York Times about the claims, “As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. It happened 16 years ago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. I apologized to her then, and I meant it.”
