CNN anchors Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon's podcast future is now unclear due to Cuomo being suspended. The pair have said they remain good friends outside of the office and earlier this year began a CNN podcast entitled The Handoff where they discuss their personal lives as well as politics.
On June 14th the pair released their first podcast show where they were able to embrace their off-camera close friendship while talking on issues. The duo's latest podcast was released November 22, days before Thanksgiving, and discussed the difficulties of family rows over politics at holiday celebrations.
However, it remains uncertain whether there will be another episode as CNN announced on Tuesday they had taken the decision to suspend Cuomo and his show, Cuomo's Prime Time.
CNN made this decision after Chris Cuomo was accused of using his influence and media contacts to help his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, form a defence against sexual misconduct allegations.
Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign due to the allegations and was put under pressure to do so by President Joe Biden and other Democrats.
Regarding the investigation into Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday released the testimony from the case. The transcript indicated that Chris Cuomo had used his position in CNN to find out information about the women making accusations against his brother.
CNN released a statement regarding this which said: "The New York Attorney General's office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo's involvement in his brother's defense. The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions.
"When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother's staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly. But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second.
"However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother's efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation."
Ahead of this announcement, Lemon had defended Chris Cuomo's character live on air. On Monday Lemon reiterated how thankful he was that Chris Cuomo was his friend and how glad he was that he had a good Thanksgiving.
He said: "It is good to see you, I know you had a great Thanksgiving, I hope that you did. I missed you, I am grateful for your friendship and your love, I think that you are fantastic. You are one of the kindest people I know on this planet, there you go, I meant every word."
After it was announced that Chris Cuomo was suspended, Lemon failed to make mention of it in his show on Tuesday night. Instead of Chris Cuomo's show, Anderson Cooper 360° got a second hour and handed over to Lemon.
Newsweek has reached out to CNN for comment.
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Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more
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