Anderson Cooper appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and offered his take on CNN’s decision to fire Chris Cuomo, telling Colbert that although he feels terrible for his former colleague and his family, “there are repercussions” for not following journalistic ethics.
Cuomo’s employment was terminated on Dec. 4, days after new information was released by New York Attorney General Letitia James that shed light on the extent to which he assisted his brother, then New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in responding to allegations of sexual harassment.
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to somebody who is a colleague and somebody who is a friend of mine,” Cooper said. “And I feel terrible for him and his family. That being said … journalists have strict ethics and strict rules that we are to abide by, and if you don’t abide by them, there are repercussions. And I wish Chris the best, and I am sorry how this all played out, but …I hate this for his family, but this is a business with very big responsibilities and there are repercussions.”
Cooper told Colbert that he was not told in advance of CNN’s plans. Colbert pressed him on whether he was surprised by the network’s move, and Cooper said, I don’t know about surprised overall, but it didn’t happen, then it did happen very quickly.”
“It didn’t happen for a year and then it was like, ahhh it might happen,” Colbert responded.
“I think people were surprised the day it happened, when it actually happened,” Cooper said.
Cooper also said that after the announcement was made about Cuomo’s firing, the first call he got “was from Andy Cohen who was like, ‘Do you think I could get that show?’”
“I was like Andy, you got enough real estate in television,” Cooper told Colbert.
Colbert, though, said, “It would be good.”
Cooper added, “Andy feels he is fully qualified to host a presidential debate because he hosted the Housewives reunion.”