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CNN President Jeff Zucker fired Chris “Fredo” Cuomo for lying. Stop laughing . . . this is 100% true.
Evidently the line was crossed when Cuomo denied groping a female colleague 15 years ago at ABC.
Zucker's rationale “He (Cuomo) looked me in the face and gave me his word. Then I found out he was lying”. (Again, stop laughing. Please. This is a serious post.)
All of this raises some AMAZING questions for CNN, Zucker, and Cuomo, no? Such as . . .
- Why is an event from 15 years ago, in another universe, the rationale for firing Fredo today?
- Why is the (still unnamed) woman just raising these allegations now?
- Why didn't ABC fire Cuomo back then?
- Why is the groping the straw that broke the camel's back, and not the use of CNN assets by Fredo to help his brother evade the law? (It's apparently “a straw”, one that CNN insiders fully expected Cuomo to survive, given his protected status in the past).
- And for that matter, how about Fredo's multiple misrepresentations and evasions on vaccinations and masks, while appearing nightly on CNN to promote the vaccine and mask agenda? And Russian collusion? And the Hunter Biden laptop? And the barfight over someone calling him Fredo, even?
This is about RATINGS, people. Not a little tushy touch. If every guy who groped me (when I was young and desirable) got fired, the unemployment rolls would be a lot higher. And it's not about passing info through back channels to help Chris's brother Mario, without whose fame and lookalike countenance Chris wouldn't even be a traffic reporter for a local affiliate.
Ratings! And reining in expenses . . .
CNN's ratings are in the tank. They (and MSNBC) have been trying desperately to keep Trump derangement syndrome alive. Viewers aren't buying it. (At least people with actual lives, now that we're going back to work). Exhibit A – the recent Virginia governors' election (“the most expensive in history”) where Democrat apparatchik Terry McAuliffe ran against Trump+somebody no one ever heard of, and lost. Lost bad. Confounding the same media and polling experts who predicted Hillary was going to win the presidency by double digits in 2016.
If you're CNN's Zucker, that's got to get your attention, no?
So . . . what's Fredo actually got to say about all this?
He's suing CNN for $18 million. No foolin'! For “breach of contract”. Do you need any more proof that this is about ratings and money? On what planet is Fredo worth more than a Big 3 network news anchor?
Historical tidbit: Matt Lauer USED to be the highest paid “news” guy in the business - $25 million. Then HE got fired (for “groping”) too.
Jeff Zucker – we applaud you for firing Fredo for lying. Even though this was his actual job requirement whenever he was on camera. How was he to ever know there was a distinction about when to lie, and when not to, though? You bear some responsibility for this, it seems, Mr. Zucker. Not only the lying, but the ratings decline, and the outrageous compensation paid to no talent doppelgangers.
I leave you with this prediction, PJ readers:
Fredo Cuomo will WIN his $18 million lawsuit. Because . . . New York courts.. Zucker, you'd better dial up your lawyers and start negotiating an out of court settlement.
Then leak the settlement amount on Wolf Blitzer's CNN show. For ratings. Blitzer's are in the tank, too.