CNN host Chris Cuomo returned from vacation on Monday evening and thanked his prime time competitors — Fox News’ Sean Hannity and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow — for coming to his defense over his reaction to being insulted by a heckler.
“Alright, no secret how I spent one particular afternoon on vacation. And there is nothing to add, except to say thank you. Thank you to all who reached out in person, who sent messages,” he said. “I appreciate it. That includes Mr. Hannity and Ms. Maddow. They acted as colleagues, not competitors, and I won’t forget it. The key is for us to all be better, and that starts with me.”
Cuomo was criticized earlier this month after he was secretly filmed threatening a heckler who called him “Fredo,” a term Cuomo said was comparable to the n-word for Italians.
“I’ll fuckin’ ruin your shit,” Cuomo was recorded saying. “I’ll fucking throw you down these stairs.”
When the video surfaced Hannity rushed to Cuomo’s defense, saying the CNN host was just defending himself when the heckler was being a “jackass in front of his family.” Meanwhile, President Trump and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., seized on the incident, with Trump going as far as to say that Cuomo wouldn’t pass red flag laws that prevent people convicted of violent crimes or who are diagnosed with severe mental illnesses from getting access to a weapons.
Cuomo addresses heckler incident at end of first show back from vacation pic.twitter.com/gghZsaf7Ft
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 20, 2019
