CNN anchor Chris Cuomo came under fire after a video showing a public altercation with a man went viral with Cuomo threatening his heckler. Cuomo was heavily criticized by right-leaning media over his comments, but he did find one unlikely supporter.
Shortly after the viral video continued gaining steam, Sean Hannity of FOX News came out in support of Cuomo and said that the CNN anchor has nothing to apologize for.
“I say good for [Chris Cuomo]. He’s out with his 9-year-old daughter and his wife, and this guy is being a jackass in front of his family,” Hannity wrote on Twitter. “[In my humble opinion], Chris Cuomo has zero to apologize for. He deserves the apology.”
CNN was also quick to come to Cuomo’s defense.
“Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him,” a CNN spokesperson said in a statement in response to the controversy.
From Cuomo’s perspective, he was attacked by the heckler with a racial slur after being called “Fredo” in reference to Fredo Corleone from The Godfather. He also compared using “Fredo” to calling an African-American the n-word.
“Punk ass b*tches from the right call me ‘Fredo.’ My name is Chris Cuomo, I’m an anchor on CNN. Fredo is from the ‘Godfather,’ he was a weak brother and the use of it to an Italian is disparaging,” the 49-year-old anchor can be heard yelling. “Don’t f–ing insult me like that. You call me ‘Fredo’ it’s like I call you punk b–ch, you like that?
“I’ll f–ing throw you down these stairs like a f–ing punk… you’re gonna call me Fredo, take a f–ing swing? I’ll f–ing wreck your sh*t.”
Cuomo has yet to publicly respond to the altercation.
