Chris Cuomo returned to CNN last night for the first time since his notorious verbal altercation on Shelter Island earlier this month that went viral.
At the end of his opening statement, the 9 p.m. host addressed the elephant in the room.
“Alright, no secret how I spent one particular afternoon on vacation. And there is nothing to add, except to say thank you,” Cuomo remarked. “Thank you to all who reached out in person, who sent messages. I appreciate it. That includes Mr. Hannity and Ms. Maddow. They acted as colleagues, not competitors, and I won’t forget it.”
Cuomo added: “The key is for us to all be better, and that starts with me.”
Cuomo addresses heckler incident at end of first show back from vacation pic.twitter.com/gghZsaf7Ft
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 20, 2019
The altercation which Cuomo was referring to occurred on Aug. 10 at Sunset Beach, a trendy outdoor restaurant and bar on Shelter Island, near the Hamptons. Cuomo was with family when unknown man went up to him and heckled him by calling him “Fredo,” a reference to the black sheep of the family in The Godfather.
“Punk ass bitches from the [political] right call me Fredo. My name is Chris Cuomo. I’m an anchor on CNN,” he can be heard saying. “Fredo is from the Godfather. It was that weak brother. It’s used as an Italian aspersion…”
Cuomo then compared the word to the n-word for Italians and asked, “Is that a cool fucking thing?” The person responded, “You’re a much more reasonable guy in person than you seem to be on television.” The person also claimed that he didn’t want any problems, and Cuomo responded, “You called me Fredo. It’s like I called you a punk bitch. You like that?”
Cuomo then warned the person that he was going to have a “fucking problem.” And when someone else shouted, “What are you going to do about it?” Cuomo responded, “I’ll fucking ruin your shit. I’ll fucking throw you down these stairs like a fucking punk.” Eventually, the altercation was broken up.
As Cuomo mentioned, Hannity was among those to express support for his CNN competitor after the ordeal went public. The two men are friends.
I say good for @ChrisCuomo
He’s out with his 9 year old daughter, and his wife, and this guy is being a jackass in front of his family.
Imho Chris Cuomo has zero to apologize for. He deserves the apology. https://t.co/VnyMNgz14U
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) August 13, 2019