During a CNN town hall with staffers, the first since the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger was announced last week, WarnerMedia News and Sports chairman Jeff Zucker was asked why Cuomo Primetime anchor Chris Cuomo wasn’t disciplined for participating in strategy sessions with his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and his aides on how the governor should respond to allegations of sexual harassment.
According to multiple reports, Zucker said there had been frustration over the matter among CNN staffers who felt the conversations represented a conflict of interest and said that the CNN anchor had “made a mistake.”
“I am not surprised that Chris had conversations with his brother. Who wouldn’t? But he did cross the line by doing it with his brother’s aides present,” Zucker reportedly told CNN employees. He assured those on the call that “there are not special rules for Chris” and that “he is human and these are very unique circumstances,” referring to the anchor’s relationship with the governor and the network’s grappling last year with how to cover a “once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.”