A former contributor for CNN is opening up about an alleged inappropriate text exchanged between her and Chris Cuomo “that went woefully wrong” — and allegedly got her axed from the network.
During her premiere episode of the Native Land Pod on Thursday, Angela Rye – who regularly appeared on the former CNN anchor’s show Cuomo Prime Time as a guest – tearfully detailed the alleged “embarrassing and humiliating” experience situation with Cuomo for the first time. The 44-year-old journalist recalled she shared a picture of herself wearing a “gold-sequin bikini” on Instagram on New Year’s Day in 2021. After posting the photo, she allegedly received a very inappropriate message from Cuomo:
“It all began on New Year’s Day [2021] when I posted a picture of myself looking forward to the New Year in a gold sequin bikini on Instagram. Cuomo screen-shot the image and said, ‘Happy New Year, tinsel crotch.’”
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What the f**k?! No one should ever say something like that to their co-worker! And understandably, the message “stunned” and upset Angela. She said:
“Stunned, I read and reread the message a dozen times, trying to understand if I somehow brought this on myself … I teared up, like now, and then the tears flowed, I felt like the safest place I had on a show on CNN had been compromised.”
Angela did not respond to the text. Cuomo then followed up with another text message that simply said: “hello.” Roughly a week later, Cuomo “was texting me about a segment idea he had for his primetime show” and offered her the role – seemingly in an attempt to fix what happened on New Year’s Day. Angela remembered:
“Chris Cuomo was suddenly excited about a prominent role for me where I would ‘check the left.’”
At first, the ESPN correspondent questioned the “genuine nature of this idea” because “Cuomo came up with this particular segment idea after [the] text exchange that went woefully wrong.” She didn’t reply to the text about the opportunity immediately. However, Angela later decided to go for it. She said on the podcast she reached out to him about a week later and asked “if he still wanted to discuss his work idea despite him mentioning tinsel bikini and tinsel bottom along the way.”
And then Angela received some shocking news. On January 21, 2021, the network called to her it wasn’t renewing her contract as “they would be focusing more on [COVID] coverage and less on politics.” However, Angela said she “knew it was a lie”:
“It was confirmed when two black women were hired for half my contributor rate right after.”
Last year, Angela claimed Chris texted her from a new phone number and asked if she was mad at him. And she was. Angela continued:
“I was, but I was really mad at myself. I was mad at myself for not saying anything sooner because I was lacking courage and preferring my financial well-being over my mental health, not standing up for women, who are often left powerless … I was mad at myself for protecting your image with the black women I know who loved you and looked forward to hearing your voice. I was mad at myself for shrinking in the face of power when people depend on me to stand up, to speak up.”
What made the situation “harder” for Angelea? She explained that they “were legitimately cool” before the incident, adding:
“We had a great rapport, and I was worried about damaging a friendship, and a working relationship that you actually damaged.”
When her co-host Tiffany Cross asked if she thinks the text message debacle cost her job, Angela shared that Cuomo had been “brutally cold” to her when the network didn’t renew her contract – which led her to believe he had something to do with her firing:
“I don’t know if [he had me fired] or not, but that is certainly what I believe now.”
So, so awful. You can listen to the podcast (below):
Our hearts break for Angela. A co-worker should never, ever treat another co-worker like this. As you may know, the 53-year-old NewsNation was fired from CNN in 2021 due to his involvement in helping his brother, Andrew Cuomo, against allegations of sexual harassment. This also isn’t the first time Cuomo has been accused of being inappropriate with a colleague. Months after the text message incident, his former ABC News boss, Shelley Ross, claimed in a New York Times op-ed that he sexually harassed her during a going-away party for another co-worker in 2005.
At this time, Cuomo hasn’t responded to the latest allegation against him. Reactions? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Native Land Pod/YouTube, CNN/YouTube]
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