CNN’s Chris Cuomo suffered a sort of existential crisis this week, confessing outright during a radio interview that he considers what he does for a living to be soul-crushing and devoid of any real meaning.
Unfortunately, his moment of clarity lasted not 24 hours before he performed a full backtrack, claiming he never said the things he said about CNN, his job, and journalism.
“I don’t like what I do professionally,” the cable host said Monday during an interview on SiriusXM. “I don’t think it’s worth my time.”
He added, “I don’t want to spend my time doing things that I don’t think are valuable enough to me personally. I don’t value indulging irrationality, hyper-partisanship.”
Cuomo continued, explaining that his battle with COVID-19 has given him a fresh perspective on his career, politics, and even the news industry. He told an anecdote about a “loser biker” who confronted him this weekend for breaking quarantine.
“I don’t want some jackass, loser, fat tire biker being able to pull over and get in my space and talk bullshit to me,” Cuomo said. “I don’t want to hear it.”
He added that he wishes he could have acted like a normal person and just told the “loser biker” to “go to hell.” Alas, he lamented, he is a celebrity and therefore cannot speak his mind for fear he will be misrepresented by the tabloids (historically speaking, telling strangers to “go to hell” has not been a problem for Cuomo).
“That matters to me more than making millions of dollars a year,” said the cable host, who just signed a long-term contract with CNN, “because I’ve saved my money and I don’t need it anymore … I want to be able to tell you to go to hell, to shut your mouth … I don’t get that doing what I do for a living. Me being able to tell you to ‘shut your mouth, or I will,’ do you the way you guys do each other.”
As for his lucrative CNN gig, Cuomo said he does not want to be “trafficking in things that I think are ridiculous,” including “talking to Democrats about things that I don’t really believe they mean” and “talking to Republicans about them parroting things they feel they have to say.”
But don’t expect the cable news host to quit CNN any time soon.
On Tuesday, during his own SiriusXM radio show, Cuomo recanted everything he said the day before, claiming he “never meant” to say he did not appreciate his job as a CNN anchor.
“It’s not true,” he said. “I never said it. I never meant it.”
“[I have] never been in a better position, professionally, than I am in right now,” Cuomo said, explaining that CNN has been nothing but supportive of him during his battle with the coronavirus. “I’ll never be able to repay them, but I’ll try hard to do so. I’ve never been more grateful. I’ve never been on a better team.”
He continued, reiterating he loves his job even though it can be difficult sometimes because “people are so intent on believing what they want to believe for political advantage.”
No, no. Shhh, Chris. You had it right the first time. Follow your dreams!
