Former ABC News producer Shelley Ross called former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo the personified "status quo" of the media's "old boy's club" in a Facebook post, saying the "misogynistic" man who once harassed her needed to find a greater cause than himself.
Cuomo, fired by CNN last year after a series of scandals involving his personal and professional conduct, has re-emerged with an active social media presence, his own podcast, splashy interviews and a gig on the fledgling outlet NewsNation; Cuomo announced his new job during an interview with NewsNation's Dan Abrams last week.
Ross responded skeptically to an online post by Abrams, who attacked other outlets that reported on Cuomo's new job at his outlet and boasted NewsNation represented a "danger to the status quo." Cuomo will host a primetime show on the network this fall.
"Dan, I'm a decades-long fan of yours," Ross wrote Saturday of Abrams, who is also ABC News' chief legal analyst. "But you've got this one wrong. The (modest) mixed reaction to Cuomo's new job does not prove the status quo of the media is under threat. Cuomo IS the status quo, same old same old arrogant, misogynistic proud member of the old boy's club. No one cares what News Nation [sic] ratings are. I am rooting for something new, fresh and honest. Just maybe some of us don't see Cuomo as that answer... those who have been disappointed in his lack of genuine contrition. As he continues to parse his words, hide behind the love of a brother, deny wrongdoing, he remains tone-deaf and phony to many of us. I'm all for second chances. But I won't believe he is a disrupter until he disrupts something and finds a greater cause than himself."
Ross told Fox News Digital she had ignored Cuomo's re-emergence until Abrams posted his "big defense of Cuomo after their interview." Ross, a veteran TV producer who was once Cuomo's executive producer at ABC News, wrote in the New York Times last September about the 2005 incident when Cuomo squeezed her buttock at a bar with "cocky arrogance." She shared the email he had sent to her at the time apologizing for his behavior – he said it was a "hearty greeting" – and Cuomo reiterated his apology last year after her Times essay, while claiming the act was "not sexual in nature."
Ross wrote at the time that she was not interested in getting Cuomo fired, but that she came forward with her story following the anchor's claims that year to care deeply about issues of sexual harassment, while responding to his brother Andrew Cuomo's scandals as then-governor of New York. She instead called on him to "journalistically repent" and use his show to study sexism and harassment in the workplace.
That turned out to be the latest in a series of troubles for Cuomo, who eventually was suspended for his role in aiding former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's political defense against a string of sexual harassment allegations. Transcripts from his interview with state investigators revealed him admitting he would reach out to media sources to find out about new accusers against his brother who had yet to come forward publicly. Gov. Cuomo resigned from office in August, and Chris Cuomo was suspended as the extent of his involvement became more apparent and clashed with a picture he gave to his viewers of how much he helped his brother.
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In interviews with Abrams and HBO's Bill Maher, Cuomo has expressed regret for how his tenure at CNN ended but not expressed contrition for aiding his brother. He's also said he wants to challenge the two-party system which he says the media gets wrapped up in; Cuomo is the scion of a powerful Democratic political family. His father Mario was also governor of New York and flirted with running for president.
Then-CNN President Jeff Zucker fired Cuomo in December following the brief suspension, reportedly for a separate misconduct allegation against him from his tenure at ABC News. The New York Times reported a woman alleged that in 2011, as a temporary employee, she was invited by Cuomo for lunch in his office, where he "badgered her for sex" and assaulted her when she declined, before running out of the room. Cuomo has reportedly denied the accusation privately and claimed nothing inappropriate occurred.
The accusation came in a letter from attorney Debra Katz on behalf of her anonymous client to CNN during its law firm's probe into Cuomo's conduct. According to the report, the woman attempted to "smooth things over" with friendly emails to Cuomo in the hopes of landing a full-time job at ABC, and she had told "five friends and former colleagues" about "unwelcome sexual requests" from Cuomo but refrained from sharing the assault claim until the past year.
Cuomo repeatedly put his colleagues in awkward spots over the final stormy years of his tenure, as figures like media reporter Brian Stelter tried to defend his cozy interviews with his brother and conflicts of interest.
Cuomo fired a lawsuit against CNN over his termination and has since become a "despised figure" there, according to one CNN insider.
Fox News' Jon Brown contributed to this report.
