Chris Cuomo Accused of Sexually Harassing Former Boss

Chris Cuomo is being accused of inappropriately touching his former boss at a party years ago in New York City.

On Friday, the New York Times published an opinion guest essay from Shelley Ross, an executive producer who has worked at CBS and ABC who was also Cuomo’s boss when he was an anchor at “Primetime Live.”

In the piece, Ross accuses the “Cuomo Prime Time” host of “squeez[ing] the cheek of my buttock” in front of her husband at a going-away party for an ABC colleague on the Upper East Side. At the time, Ross was an executive producer of an ABC entertainment special and no longer Cuomo’s boss.

“’I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss,’” Ross alleges Cuomo said to her.

“No, you can’t,” she told him while pushing him off at the chest and stepping back.

One hour later, Ross says Cuomo sent her an alleged email with the subject, “now that I think of it… I am ashamed…”

“Though my hearty greeting was a function of being glad to see you...” the alleged message began.

“…christian slater got arrested for a (kind of) similar act (though borne of an alleged negative intent, unlike my own)… and as a husband I can empathize with not liking to see my wife patted as such…” Cuomo allegedly wrote, referencing how the actor was arrested after a woman reported that he had grabbed her buttocks as she walked down the street. Though Slater was charged with third-degree sexual abuse, the charges were dropped.

“so pass along my apology to your very good and noble husband…and I apologize to you as well, for even putting you in such a position… next time, I will remember the lesson, no matter how happy I am to see you…” he allegedly concluded the note.

In her piece, Ross believes Cuomo, a former lawyer, appeared to legally differentiate between the two incidents: While he suggested that Slater had “negative intent,” it appears Cuomo believes his alleged actions did not.

Though she says she did not believe Cuomo’s alleged behavior was sexual in nature, Ross does think that “his form of sexual harassment was a hostile act meant to diminish and belittle his female former boss in front of the staff.”

In response, Cuomo released a statement Thursday night that read, “As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. It happened 16 years ago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. I apologized to her then, and I meant it.”

In coming forward with her allegations, Ross does not want Cuomo to lose his job but rather to use his platform for change.

“I’m not asking for Mr. Cuomo to become the next casualty in this continuing terrible story. I hope he stays at CNN forever if he chooses. I would, however, like to see him journalistically repent: agree on air to study the impact of sexism, harassment and gender bias in the workplace, including his own, and then report on it,” she said.

“He could host a series of live town hall meetings, with documentary footage, produced by women with expert consultants,” Ross added.

Last month, Chris’ brother Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor of New York after multiple women accused Andrew of sexual misconduct.

Prior to this, in May, Chris apologized on his CNN show after Andrew’s office confirmed a Washington Post report that said Chris had joined several strategy calls with his brother and his top advisers.

“It will not happen again. It was a mistake,” Chris said on-air.

However, he also defended himself, saying “of course” he gave advice to his brother and that he was “family first, job second.”

“I know where the line is,” he said of being a journalist while having a politician as a brother. “I can respect it and still be there for my family, which I must.”