Disgraced media personality Chris Cuomo is now accused of harassment. A former CNN colleague claimed Cuomo sent her explicit text messages.
Progressive political commentator Angela Rye recently revealed accusations that Cuomo harassed her. Rye made the allegations against Cuomo during the first episode of her new podcast “Native Land Pod.” The alleged harassment happened three years ago.
Rye accused Cuomo of making a crude remark about a photo of herself wearing a gold-sequined bikini posted to Instagram on Jan. 1, 2021.
“My story is one that I never thought I’d tell and sits at the intersection, frankly, of power and harassment,” Rye stated.
“It all began on New Year’s Day when I posted a picture of myself looking forward to the new year in a gold-sequined bikini on Instagram. Cuomo screenshot the image and said, ‘Happy New Year, tinsel crotch,’” Rye alleged. “Stunned, I read and reread the message a dozen times, trying to understand. If I somehow brought this on myself since whatever you post on social is fair game, right? I teared up… I felt like the safest place I had on a show on CNN had been compromised.”
Rye said she didn’t respond to Cuomo’s alleged message for two days, despite him texting her to “discuss work.”
A week after allegedly receiving the text from Cuomo, Rye said she asked her former CNN colleague if he still wanted to discuss work, “despite him mentioning tinsel bikini and tinsel bottom along the way.”
“Just 10 days prior to receiving that call on Jan. 21, the darling of the network and one of the most influential hosts during Jeff Zucker’s tenure was texting me about a segment idea he had for his primetime show,” the former CNN contributor explained. “Chris Cuomo was suddenly excited about a prominent regular role for me where I would check the left. Truthfully, I had my doubts on the genuine nature of this idea… Cuomo came up with this particular segment idea after a text exchange that went woefully wrong.”
“As I think about this, it feels so f***ing small compared to what other women in the workplace experience, but I was afraid to speak up,” Rye continued with tears in her eyes. “Between New Year’s and my follow-up, an insurrection happened on Capitol Hill where I feared I would lose loved ones. I felt like if I called him out, I was risking everything I was finally starting to build with the network, and as someone who is known for being courageous, I cannot begin to tell you how much I felt like a coward. In 10 short days, I felt like what was the clear ride to the promised land turned into quicksand.”
“I was mad at myself for not addressing this sooner. I was mad at myself for protecting your image with the black women I know who loved you and looked forward to hearing your voice,” Rye added. “I know I’m not the only one, and truthfully, I’m mad about that, too, that everyone has given you a pass for fear of what it might mean to hold you accountable for clearly inappropriate behavior and overstepping. I was mad at myself for shrinking in the face of power when people depend on me to stand up, to speak up. This was harder for me because we were legitimately cool. We had a great rapport and I was worried about damaging a friendship and a working relationship that you actually damaged. I tried to redirect you repeatedly, and you abused the grace you did not deserve.”
“So I apologize. I apologize for not leaning into what I know is my mission and shrinking in the face of power, for not doing more. I apologize to every woman who needed a voice, and I was silent,” she said. “I apologize for waiting in the wings for opportunity that never came while I sacrificed sixth-grade, wounded Angela who desperately needed a protector in the face of bullies. I apologize for knowing how to be courageous, but not acting on it.
“I apologize to the people who experienced this in newsrooms, halls of Congress, the C suite support staff roles, and college lecture halls. I see you and I want you to know you’re not alone. And I apologize to me for minimizing the impact this had on me, for wallowing in shame and shoulda-couldas when I just wasn’t ready to acknowledge or speak on what it is,” Rye said.
Addressing Cuomo, Rye said, “So no, Chris, I won’t be a guest on your program now or later. Thank you for the platform. It was not worth all of the mental and emotional turmoil, and I thank God that I’m clear about the fact that you can’t take away a voice you never created, you or the network executives who enabled you.”
Rye said she received a phone call saying that her contract with CNN would not be renewed on Jan. 21, 2021.
Rye learned, “CNN — right after January 6, and a historical election where we got our first ever black VP, who was a woman and my friend — would be focusing more on COVID coverage and less on politics.”
Rye alleged that she “knew it was a lie, and it was confirmed when two black women were hired for half my current contributor rate right after.”
Rye made the comments on the debut episode of the “Native Land Pod” with co-hosts Tiffany Cross, the former MSNBC host, and Andrew Gillum, the scandal-plagued former Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Florida.
A representative for Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News, and CNN declined to comment on the harassment allegations of its former employee.
Cuomo was fired from CNN in December 2021.
Cuomo has previously faced accusations of sexual misconduct in the past from former colleagues.
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