CNN Fires Chris Cuomo

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo has officially been fired from the network “effective immediately,” according to a statement released by the media company Saturday evening.

“Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” the statement began. “We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately.”

According to the statement, during the review, “additional information has come to light,” and that “despite the termination, [CNN] will investigate as appropriate.”

Statement on Chris Cuomo’s termination from CNN. pic.twitter.com/yKPwYtMznD

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) December 4, 2021

Cuomo was suspended after text messages released by the New York attorney general’s office showed Cuomo was in regular contact with Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s top aide, assisting with his brother’s response to the allegations and exploiting his media connections to dig up dirt on Andrew’s accusers.

“The New York Attorney General’s office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s defense,” a CNN spokesperson said Tuesday evening. “The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions.”

“With information in the texts and documents pointing to a serious breach of CNN standards, Cuomo was notified of his termination on Saturday,” reports CNN’s Brian Stelter. “The CNN statement on Saturday also referred to ‘additional information [that] has come to light’ during the review of the document dump. A CNN spokesperson declined to share any further detail about the information.”

It is also not clear what standards CNN claims to have.

Chris Cuomo released a statement of his own following the announcement.

“This is not how I want my time at CNN to end but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother,” Cuomo began. “So let me now say as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot. I owe them all and will miss that group of special people who did really important work.”