Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling out the “big shots” who fear being canceled — a possible allusion to himself as he mulls a return to public office.
Cuomo, widely believed to be considering a gubernatorial bid, took his disdain for “cancel culture” a step further in Thursday remarks, naming specific people and companies he says are afraid of public reckonings that could parallel the one he endured last year.
“No one is immune. Politicians certainly, but even the press is afraid of the cancel culture because their business is now also about clicks and tweets and Twitter followers,” he told the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization on Thursday. “Even big shots like CNN, AT&T, Time Warner, and Discovery are afraid of the cancel culture. Even billionaire media owners like John Malone, John Stankey, and David Zaslav fear being canceled.”
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Cuomo’s reference to CNN may also have been a swipe at a $125 million filing from his brother, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who said in a Wednesday demand for arbitration that his “journalistic integrity” was “unjustifiably smeared” by his unceremonious ouster from the network last December.
Fueling speculation that he intends to run for office, the elder Cuomo touted his political record, pointing to his support for bail reform, gay marriage, and several New York infrastructure projects.
“Stand up to the ignorance and intolerance. Stand up to the bullies. Stand up to the extremists. Cancel the cancel culture,” he said, likening cancel culture to “modern-day stonings.”
But the former governor alluded to challenges that the state faces. He signaled what could become priorities were he to reclaim the executive mansion later this year, acknowledging the mass exodus of New Yorkers amid rising crime rates and large tax hikes.
“People have a new flexibility about where they can live. I don’t have to live in New York. I can work from anywhere. And if New York is difficult to do business, if you are going to suffocate small businesses in regulations, if New York is unsafe, if New York charges me the highest taxes, I can move. I’ll come back to visit,” Cuomo said of residents’ mentality, saying that he “didn’t build a new LaGuardia and JFK airport to make it easier for people to fly to Florida and leave New York.”
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Although Cuomo resigned from the governorship last August after Attorney General Letitia James published a bombshell report saying he sexually harassed at least 11 women, the former governor has maintained that he engaged in no inappropriate touching and signaled his hopes for a comeback. The former governor released an ad blitz last month, putting the prosecutors who contemplated but ultimately dropped criminal charges against him on notice. When watchdogs lamented his use of an operational campaign arm to fund these ads, the New York Board of Elections ruled that Cuomo’s conduct “fits the definition of a candidate.”
While Cuomo is eligible to pursue the governorship again, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, who served as his lieutenant governor, has consolidated support around her bid for a full term, earning the backing of the New York Democratic Party’s state convention Feb. 17. But the evidence suggests that Cuomo would present a formidable challenge to his onetime running mate, with a recent poll indicating that the two are in a statistical dead heat.
