NEWSNews Anchor Chris Cuomo No Longer Allowed To Cover Brother Andrew Cuomo As Governor's Nursing Home 'Mistake' Unravels
News anchor Chris Cuomo will no longer cover his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, on his CNN show, Cuomo Prime Time. Although Chris, 50, has had his older brother, 63, on the show multiple times early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the network explained that those appearances were an exception to the rules that concern conflicts of interest in a recent statement.
"The early months of the pandemic crisis were an extraordinary time," CNN said in a statement.
"We felt that Chris speaking with his brother about the challenges of what millions of American families were struggling with was of significant human interest," the statement continued. "As a result, we made an exception to a rule that we have had in place since 2013 which prevents Chris from interviewing and covering his brother, and that rule remains in place today. CNN has covered the news surrounding Governor Cuomo extensively."
Andrew is currently under fire for how he dealt with COVID-19 when it came to nursing homes. Earlier this week, he admitted a "mistake" in how his administration handled the reporting of deaths in New York nursing homes — critics claimed that the way his administration separated the death toll into two different categories obscured the true death toll for months.
One of the New York Governor's top aides reportedly revealed that the true picture of the death toll in nursing homes wasn't being revealed because they feared that it would be used against them in an investigation launched by Trump’s Justice Department.
After coming under fire for his management of the novel virus in nursing homes, Andrew stated: "All the deaths in the nursing homes and hospitals were always fully, publicly and accurately reported."
However, he admitted, "We should have done a better job of providing as much information as we could as quickly as we could," adding: "No excuses: I accept responsibility for that."
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Andrew made this statement weeks after the state was forced to acknowledge that they excluded thousands of residents who died after they were taken to the hospital.
The Governor has reportedly been interviewed by CNN at least 47 times since the beginning of March 2020, 11 of which were with his younger brother.
However, Chris has failed to cover the bombshell New York Post report on his brother's administration. Since the story broke, the report was covered across the board by the New York Times, The Associated Press and even CNN digital but was missing from the network's primetime 9 p.m. newscast.
While Chris has promoted positive coverage of his brother throughout the pandemic, this recent omission has prompted an op-ed in the Washington Post about the ethics of journalists covering family members.
The brothers were both in the spotlight during the start of the pandemic. Chris contracted COVID-19 early on but continued anchoring his show from his basement, as Andrew dealt with New York's troubling days at the start of the pandemic.
While viewers loved the brotherly love between the two on-air, CNN has officially closed the door on any further interviews between the duo. The network has since covered Andrew's nursing home scandal on their other shows, including New Day, The Lead with Jake Tapper, CNN Newsroom Live and several others.
