VIDEO: Chris Cuomo threatens man over Italian 'ethnic slur' — CNN releases statement
CNN released a statement in full support of their anchor Chris Cuomo over a video of an altercation where he verbally abused a man for calling him "Fredo," a reference to the iconic gangster film "The Godfather."
"Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup," the statement read.
"We completely support him," they concluded.
The video, which was widely shared on social media on Monday, showed Cuomo getting agitated at a man for referring to him as "Fredo," which he claimed was an insult used against him by people on the right.
"Punk a** b**ches from the right call me Fredo," Cuomo says to the man.
"My name is Chris Cuomo. I'm an anchor on CNN. Fredo is from 'The Godfather.' He was a weak brother and they use it as an Italian aspersion," he continued.
"Any of you Italian? It's a f**king insult to your people. It's an insult to your f**king people!" Cuomo exclaims.
"It's like the n-word for us," he claims.
The man says that he believed "Fredo" was Cuomo's name, which sets off the CNN anchor.
"If you want to play then we'll f**king play," Cuomo says. "If you've got something to say about what I do on television then say it."
Cuomo threatened to toss the man down nearby stairs as security swooped in and broke up the interaction.
"Fredo" became the top trending topic nationally after the video went viral on social media.
Fox News' Sean Hannity defended Cuomo in a tweet.
"I say good for @ChrisCuomo," Hannity commented. "He's out with his 9 year old daughter, and his wife, and this guy is being a jack*ss in front of his family. Imho Chris Cuomo has zero to apologize for. He deserves the apology."
Here's the video of the altercation. [Warning: explicit language]:
CNN host Chris Cuomo has little to no chill when someone calls him “Fredo”. pic.twitter.com/w8pYFfq1Q9— Matt Bevan 🎙 (@MatthewBevan) August 13, 2019
