Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor of New York, blamed cancel culture for the media and political frenzy that erupted following allegations of sexual harassment.
Cuomo appeared alongside Melissa DeRosa, his former chief of staff and author of What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics and Crisis, on Friday’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher.
During their conversation, the host brought up the investigation into allegations against the former governor, which he has denied, that forced him to resign in 2021. While Maher said he didn’t want to carry water for the two, he noted that some of the accusations were more absurd. But he did go on to lecture Cuomo for not understanding that “the kids don’t want to be touched,” adding, “I mean, private, personal space is just different to different generations.”
Cuomo emphasized that he “got the memo,” but that “it can be carried to an absurd extent” due to the media and politics escalating it, specifically calling out The New York Times. He added, “When you say generational, I think it’s partially generational, but it’s not all young people. It’s generational/political.”
The former governor proceeded to explain what he found to be the most “chilling” was “the cancel culture on steroids at the highest level, with the justice department.” He claimed that people were running with the headlines without reading the actual investigation report.
“Eleven cases trigger the cancel culture. Everyone has to be first before they get accused by a women’s group of not moving fast enough,” Cuomo said regarding how everything went down. “President of the United States within hours says you have to resign, but I didn’t read the report but it doesn’t matter, you have to resign. And then now it’s dominoes among the Democrats.”
Maher, who read out some of the accusations, agreed that some of them were excessive. The host went on to share that he feels “both generations are giving away their flaws” with the older generation being “too open” and the younger being “too sensitive.”
He also declared that he’s “glad that there was a #MeToo Movement. It was a necessary corrective,” but also doesn’t “want to live in the Soviet Union.”
When Maher later pressed Cuomo on the more serious accusations, including groping, the former governor maintained that he didn’t, saying, “even that story was problematic” and that’s why five district attorneys didn’t bring a case against him.
