Despite mounting calls — including from Joe Biden — for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign over his sexual harassment scandal, we’re not holding our breath for Cuomo to actually do it. Because why would he? After all, he’s managed to get this far despite everyone knowing full well that he’s a terrible person.
And that’s due in no small part to the media that’s enabled and fluffed him for so long. In their eyes, he could do no wrong, even if he was sexually harassing multiple women and condemning elderly New Yorkers to their deaths.
But while the media may have refused to hold Andrew Cuomo to account, Drew Holden has no qualms about holding the media to account for their own starring role in the Cuomo scandal saga.
🧵THREAD🧵@NYGovCuomo thinks he can survive the bombshell report about his sexual misconduct from his own state AG because lots of corporate media outlets have worked hard to deceive the country into thinking Gov. Cuomo is a hero.
Don’t remember? Read on ⤵️
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Strap in for this one:
The only place to start is with @CNN, where Cuomo’s brother @ChrisCuomo works.
I’m sure you all remember what the love fest looked like back then. This is meant to be straight news coverage! pic.twitter.com/LDXD3SQQe7
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
And of course it wasn’t just the network. There were plenty of their main voices who chimed in.
Perhaps the staunchest supporter proved to be @ananavarro, even after the sexual harassment allegations surfaced. pic.twitter.com/as9ND4DxI4
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
This quote from @ChrisCillizza always gets me, and I couldn’t not include it here. pic.twitter.com/7oJNrw7nWZ
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Is it any wonder that one of @NYGovCuomo’s biggest cheerleaders throughout the process was his brother @ChrisCuomo?
The “Luv Guv dishing the real 24/7” quote didn’t quite hold up. pic.twitter.com/q10lsTxihJ
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
But CNN was far from alone among the broadcast networks. @MSNBC worked overtime to get Cuomo on and carried water for him even well after some of his scandals had started to come to light. pic.twitter.com/QdSxxfhOdG
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
And like CNN, their leading voices were all-aboard the Cuomo train.
Here’s @JoyAnnReid providing a timely reminder that worshipping politicians is always bad but is particularly harmful when you’re meant to cover them. pic.twitter.com/AjGeEXEy9k
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
It wasn’t just broadcast. Here’s a quote that’s always stuck with me from @washingtonpost writers @sarahellison and @bterris (straight news, not an opinion, mind you) that Cuomo is “the strongman who can admit he’s wrong.” pic.twitter.com/zboomSgysw
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Some of the coverage from @nytimes about Cuomo was commendable and has held up well in retrospect.
Some of it has…well, not so much. pic.twitter.com/foYbseOdD1
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Here’s @NPR doing much of the same: applauding @NYGovCuomo’s personality traits.
NPR, do you still stand by Cuomo as someone “listening to the experts and sticking to the facts” as he rejects calls to step down? pic.twitter.com/EYt02R24a2
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
A lot of what was written was too generous to even pass for PR. I mean it was just one long vanity project by Cuomo, with the press doing his bidding at seemingly every turn.
Here’s @RollingStone. pic.twitter.com/yV1cFZOWhJ
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
In that vein, might be a good day to delete this one, @HuffPost pic.twitter.com/pkenez47Ek
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Ditto on the deletion for this piece, @voguemagazine and @chelseahandler (what comedy!) pic.twitter.com/b7JcXEe5o6
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
I’m running out of words to describe how over the top the media adulation of @NYGovCuomo was but I haven’t run out of outlets, unfortunately. @DEADLINE, @enews, @TODAYshow pic.twitter.com/twmkqcfuyN
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Could anyone forget the evolution of the “Cuomosexuals” during all this? @latimes did a whole piece about it.
Is it any wonder that media outlets reporting on how the Governor had inspired a new sexuality were willing to look away from his scandals? pic.twitter.com/wbgEsTfLfA
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
There are a bunch of others like this that I don’t have space to feature on their own or the mental strength remaining to analyze, including:@Independent @VanityFair (I mean cmon)@Salon (yikes)@Slate (please, never change) pic.twitter.com/MOraOOAGsJ
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Some outlets didn’t take the bait. There was great coverage from a number of publications, including @NewYorker and @propublica, as well as both conservative outlets like NY Post and @WSJ, and local outlets (@NY1 and many others).
The real story was out there all along. pic.twitter.com/KDkoekfnzU
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
Despite that, plenty of opinion writers went to great lengths to make Cuomo into a hero that he wasn’t. Here’s thread favorite @JRubinBlogger. pic.twitter.com/Bg6FhumRox
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
I’m not sure that “empathy” is the word that comes to mind in all this, @maureendowd.
The entire Cuomo experience was a pretty good litmus test, though, of the outlets and voices who simply weren’t discriminating enough in their coverage of a public figure. pic.twitter.com/bO1B58CvOE
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
And speaking of, the funny people were, well, not exactly speaking truth to power. There were others but the worst of it was really led by @TheDailyShow. pic.twitter.com/BHCJiM8tvw
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
I had to see it so you do, too. @buzzfeed pic.twitter.com/jSW34k082F
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
If only any of these outlets had cared that Andrew Cuomo is a flaming hypocrite and garbage person. Think of how much better off so many people would be today. Think of how many people wouldn’t be victims of Andrew Cuomo.
I mean, based on what @NYGovCuomo has said about sexual harassment in the workplace, I don’t see how he can do anything but resign. pic.twitter.com/ugTdS6c2YH
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
But what we can’t lose in all of this is that @NYGovCuomo is also responsible for the deaths of thousands of seniors across New York because of his disastrous handling of coronavirus. He’s escaped accountability to date.
Hopefully this development will bring attention to that.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
That would certainly be nice. But the media had no interest in blaming Andrew Cuomo for his sins. Can we really expect Cuomo to hold himself accountable?
The most important role of the press is to serve as a watchdog over people and institutions in power. The corporate press came down with a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to @NYGovCuomo.
The results shouldn’t shock us.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) August 3, 2021
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