I write to analyze Chris Cuomo, not to defend him.
Was it an innocent mistake or a right-wing provocation that took place last weekend when a man addressed Chris Cuomo as “Fredo” instead of his name? If you didn’t know, the name Fredo isn’t from fettucine alfredo but from The Godfather, the name of the not-so-bright son of mob boss Don Corleone. Yet another name that has slipped into the Italian American identity bag with Guido, Tony, Mario, and Luigi.
Cuomo, the CNN celebrity anchor, worked himself into a lather, at first correcting the man, then unleashing a torrent of F-bombs and physical threats to throw the man down some stairs. A Latin temper? Worse, a brainwashed Italian American. Cuomo went from Fredo to Santino (the Don’s hot-headed eldest son) in nothing flat. Apparently, he couldn’t help himself.
We know that Cuomo’s esteemed father, the late New York governor Mario Cuomo, hated The Godfather series, as well as all Mafia movies. He believed they distorted Italian American culture to other Americans. I cannot say how his sons Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York, and Chris view those movies. It’s a safe bet that they eventually saw the many works of Coppola, Scorsese, and Chase, which have forever soiled the media image of Italians.
Sadly, in Chris’s case, his tirade could have been an audition for any one of those directors’ movies. Just say some standard phrases — “fuggettaboutit,” “f—in’ guy,” or “with all due respect” — with the right neighborhood accent and, presto, in the media’s eyes, you’re Italian American.
Mario Cuomo and other defenders of our heritage saw an image problem in movie stereotypes. But the more insidious threat is to internalize the culture of stereotypes. Even a well-educated fellow such as Chris Cuomo can become a Manchurian candidate (a condition depicted in the Frank Sinatra movie about a GI brainwashed during the Korean War). You have to see the video of Cuomo’s tirade to appreciate how a man who attended prep school, Yale, and Catholic Fordham University to become an attorney reverted to a character straight from The Sopranos. It’s as though his mind shifted from a Shelter Island vacation to a Mulberry Street brawl.
Cuomo regrets his reversion to the depths, but he insists that the word “Fredo” is equivalent to the N-word for Italians. Get real! A few years back, I was in a hardware store looking for a valve to use in my winemaking. When I told a clerk my mission, he innocently responded, “Oh, you’re making guinea red.”
I didn’t go ballistic, but I pointedly asked him why he used that word. He was truly stunned that someone took offense and apologized. That and wop are our N-words. “Fredo” struck a wholly different nerve in Cuomo.
Chris is often characterized as “Fredo” by conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh, so the insult goes deep and personal. Maybe our boy needs a shrink. Whatever the fuse, Cuomo’s reaction was Manchurian.
How many Italian Americans have been programmed by the relentless exposure to cinematic Italians over a half century? Minorities complain that they have few positive role models on-screen for their children. We have none!
Mannerisms, language, and attitudes from characters in movies and on television have seeped into three generations of Italian Americans. Chris Cuomo is only 49 and a veritable Brahman among us. So, I was shocked to see him regress at the slightest provocation. I am often surprised how other immigrant groups have risen above their stereotypes by the second generation, while some of our paesani wallow in a Jurassic version of Italian-ness.
In order to preserve their beloved cinematic genre, the purveyors of crude Italian movie stereotypes play another mind game with the public. Without embarrassment, they claim that Mafia movies aren’t about Italians at all, but about American greed. With that logic, the word “Fredo” has no Italian connotation. It seems to work.
“You are getting sleepy …”
John Mancini is president of the Italic Institute of America.
