An appearance by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on MSNBC on Monday morning may not have helped his struggling campaign to be New York City’s next mayor as he was faced with questions about allegations of sexual harassment.
During the second half of the long and wide-ranging interview on “Morning Joe,” Cuomo, who is trailing badly in the polls behind Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani, was admonished by guest Anand Giridharadas for mispronouncing his opponent's name repeatedly. ”First of all, governor, it's Mamdani. This is a very big, diverse city. You want to lead. We should get the names right,” he was told — before he was asked about the allegations that drove him from office.
“I wanted to ask you, it's eight years since the kind of peak of the MeToo movement. You were one of the men caught up in that conversation,” Giridharadas asked. “A lot of — some of those men from that era are out of public life forever. Some never left. You're back running for this race. I'm curious, did you go on a journey in the last eight years of any kind of personal transformation? Was there any kind of reflection?”
Cuomo faced multiple sexual harassment allegations from women who worked for him, including inappropriate touching, unwanted advances, and creating a toxic workplace environment. In 2021, an independent investigation substantiated these claims, leading to his resignation. He has not faced criminal charges relating to the allegations.
“I wonder if you have, if you pursued any kinds of changes in yourself that would allow you to come back to city hall and tell voters you'd be different in any meaningful way when it comes to dealing with women than you were when you were last in office,” he added.
“Well, it was a journey,” the former Democratic governor now running as an independent admitted. “It was an expedition. It was the hardest thing I went through in my life. And I've gone through a lot.
"When the allegations were made, you're right, it was in the heat of the MeToo movement and there was a lot of political energy. I said at that time they were false and that I did nothing wrong. But there was such intensity about it, and especially among Democrats, right? That there was like zero tolerance and nobody wanted to have a real conversation. I then spent five years living through it. The report went to five district attorneys, Democratic and Republican, highly political, had to go through it with each of them for years. Then in civil litigation, depositions, witnesses, etc. At the end of the day, nothing came of anything. I was dropped from the cases, so it was what I said it was.”
As he added, “Look, there is a new sensitivity and evolving sensitivity culturally about behavior and what behavior is right or wrong, or what I might find offensive. And it doesn't matter whether you agree or not. If I find what you said offensive, then it was offensive. And it's my standard that matters. And I should have been hyper cautious because you have to be hyper cautious, right?” the cameras cut to co-host Mike Brzezinski, who had a highly skeptical look on her face.
He then remarked, “And it's not a mistake I'm going to make again. I won't even meet with a person alone anymore. I want to witness now to every conversation, every interaction. But it was a a it was a painful process, not only for me.”
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