Chris Cuomo To Sue CNN For $60 Million
Chris Cuomo intends to sue CNN for as much as $60 million.
Reports last week claimed that AT&T, CNN's parent company, was negotiating a $9 million settlement with Cuomo. Under the discussed deal, CNN would fire Jeff Zucker, which it has done, and in return, Cuomo would not reveal what he knows about Zucker's wrongdoings while he was head of the company.
However, the New York Post's Page Sixreports that Cuomo now wants $60 million.
While Cuomo had $18 million left on his contract, the report says he plans to sue for more because he believes CNN has permanently damaged his career.
Cuomo is basing the $60 million mark on Megyn Kelly's settlement with NBC. In 2019, Kelly won a $69 million settlement from NBC after the network fired her over comments about blackface that critics used to destroy her.
Does Cuomo have a case?
Well, there's evidence that suggests Zucker and the woman with whom Zucker has had an extra-marital relationship were the ones inappropriately assisting Andrew Cuomo. Chris Cuomo says he had disclosed to Zucker the extent to which he advised his brother.
“Chris insists he never did anything for his brother Andrew that Zucker didn’t know about," the Post adds.
Moreover, Zucker was the one who lifted the ban that prevented Chris Cuomo from covering or interviewing his brother in the spring of 2020, around the time of Andrew’s noted COVID briefings.
So if Cuomo's version of the story is true, he has a case that CNN permanently damaged his career. It's hard to see Cuomo finding another gig in the news industry after his ousting.