Advertising

Radio host Michael Smerconish said Monday he took “no pleasure” in being tapped to fill Chris Cuomo’s time slots on CNN and SiriusXM after the former CNN anchor was canned over the weekend.

“I am here to guest host for — I’ll have to find a new way of saying this — I’m here to guest host for Chris Cuomo’s time slot, or the time slot that had been Chris Cuomo’s,” Smerconish said, kicking off Cuomo’s show on SiriusXM’s POTUS station. “I don’t take any pleasure in it,” he added.

CNN on Saturday announced it had fired Cuomo, a brother to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who is facing a misdemeanor charge of sexual assault. An allegation of sexual misconduct against CNN’s Cuomo emerged on Wednesday, adding to the controversy over the role he played in advising his brother on his own scandal.

“Based on the report we received regarding Chris’s conduct with his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate,” a network spokeswoman said in a statement. “When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.”

Smerconish said he believed he was chosen to serve as an interim replacement for Cuomo because he was “safe.”

“A friend of mine — Larry Ceisler — over the weekend, I

think, probably summed it up best,” Smerconish said. “He said to me, ‘Look, you’re good, and you’re safe.’ And I thought, yeah, in a nutshell, that’s probably what it’s all about. But I’m not celebrating anything. I have addressed this situation here before. The entire saga is, to me, sad, on multiple levels. I consider Chris to be a friend of mine. He’s a colleague of mine here on POTUS. I have genuine affection for him. I have enjoyed being his guest. I have also enjoyed being his guest host on many, many occasions, and I can only imagine how he feels.”

However, he added, “I’m also not in any loop about what brought about the outcome beyond what we’ve all read in the newspapers. The story seems to have worsened since we were last together in ways that I don’t completely comprehend.”

Listen above via SiriusXM.

Tags: Andrew Cuomo, Chris Cuomo, CNN, Larry Ceisler, Michael Smerconish