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Andrew Cuomo’s accusers have betrayed #MeToo Groping allegations distract from his worst sins

Cuomo denies the allegations (John Moore/Getty Images)

Cuomo denies the allegations (John Moore/Getty Images)


August 13, 2021   5 mins

Folklore tells us that if you wish to slay monsters, you need the proper weapons. A stake to drive through the heart of a vampire; a silver bullet to fell the slavering werewolf. But in the murky forest of American politics, there’s only one weapon powerful enough to slay the beast: a good old #MeToo-ing by an army of brave women warriors.

This looks to be how it’s going to end for Andrew Cuomo, the New York state governor who resigned this week after an investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James found that he’d sexually harassed eleven women over the course of his political career. The report detailed a pervasive pattern of harassment that included everything from overfamiliar touching to suggestive comments; the most serious allegation was that he’d put his hand up a woman’s shirt and groped her breast.

Cuomo has flatly denied some of the allegations (including the groping charge); others, he’s tried to contextualise as the innocuous byproducts of his affectionate, gregarious nature. The governor argued that he’s always hugged and kissed people, men and women alike; he simply hadn’t realised how much he’d fallen out of step with the norms of a more enlightened age.

“There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have,” he said, in a statement that utterly failed to win over his detractors but did launch a cottage industry of I’m not perverted, I’m just Italian T-shirts.

But even as it’s being treated like a bombshell, the 165-page report raises at least as many questions as it answers. Tablet‘s Michael Tracey has pointed out several oddities and inconsistencies, including the fact that some of Cuomo’s behaviour was found offensive by James but not, remarkably, by the women who were subjected to it — and that despite accusing him in a press conference of having violated federal law, James has not brought charges against the governor.

In this way, the Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment scandal contains echoes of an earlier, hastier takedown: in 2017, at the height of MeToo fervour, Democratic Senator Al Franken stepped down amid multiple allegations of harassment and intense pressure from his peers on the Left. His case followed a similar trajectory to Cuomo’s, beginning with an allegation from a former colleague-turned-political rival. In Franken’s case, conservative talk-radio personality Leeann Tweeden accused the senator of having forced her to repeatedly rehearse a kissing scene against her will during a USO tour in 2006; in Cuomo’s case, the controversy began with allegations from Lindsey Boylan, a former aide who was now running for office herself.

Boylan complained on Twitter about a toxic work environment at Cuomo’s office before upping the ante with a claim of sexual harassment, then famously refused to elaborate or cooperate with journalists who were attempting to report the story. But as with Franken, once the first allegation drew attention, others followed. And as with Franken, it wasn’t the details of any one incident but the sheer volume of women claiming to be harassed that made all the difference.

The most charitable reading of this #MeToo trajectory is that there’s safety, and courage, in numbers — that women are empowered to come forward with allegations once they realise they’re not alone. The cynical one is that #MeToo-ings have a certain glow — one that attracts not just true victims, but also attention-seekers and fabulists, like moths to the flame. Look at these brave and valiant women speaking truth to a powerful, abusive man; who wouldn’t want to be part of that?

The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle. Anyone over the age of 40 will recognise Andrew Cuomo as the sort of old lecher whose behaviour is grossly inappropriate by the enlightened standards of the current year, but who was quite recently considered tolerable and toothless if not charming (and some people did find him charming, including those now pretending otherwise). He’s also not the first politician with a long history of displaying open affection for constituents and staff to get tripped up by evolving norms; after all, it was only last year that we were still trying to decide if Joe Biden’s handsiness was an encouraging sign of human warmth or something more sinister.

For Biden, warmth won out. But Cuomo, for reasons of both identity and self-presentation, couldn’t project that same grandfatherly vibe. He was younger, rougher, and unmarried after a notoriously acrimonious split from his wife in the early 2000s. And far from being cautious about how these things might impact his image, he leaned into it: “I’ve always been a soft guy,” he joked with his brother, CNN’s Chris Cuomo, early on in the pandemic. “I am the love gov. I’m a cool dude in a loose mood.”

Of course, until about five minutes ago, people were eating this up — which explains why it took nearly nine months between those first allegations of misconduct and Cuomo’s unhappy ouster from office. It’s not that Andrew Cuomo was a good guy; it’s just that we desperately wanted him to be. New York was one of the first states to be hit hard by the pandemic, and before long, New York’s governor was being hailed as a Covid hero. Andrew Cuomo developed a reputation for taking the virus seriously (unlike those science-denying yokels in, say, Florida, who wouldn’t even wear masks at the beach), and for taking control of a population that refused to control itself. In hindsight, it was all a bit much.

“I love Governor Cuomo, his soothing Queens accent, his stories about his dad Mario (himself a three-time governor of New York) and his 88-year-old mother Matilda,” gushed Molly Jong-Fast at Vogue, while Jezebel’s Rebecca Fishbein swooned over his “measured bullying, his love of circumventing the federal government, his sparring with increasingly incompetent city leadership.” The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah declared himself a proud Cuomosexual. When a photo surfaced that suggested the presence of nipple piercings under Cuomo’s polo shirt, media Twitter lost its mind for three straight days.

And as long as Andrew Cuomo said all the right things, nobody seemed to care much that he was doing all the wrong ones. This was the man who mandated that Covid-infected patients be admitted to nursing homes without testing, resulting in tens of thousands of fatalities, and then tried to cover up the scandal by undercounting the dead. In the early days of the pandemic, when tests were scarce, he diverted them away from essential workers and gave them to his friends, family, and administration VIPs. This was the man who got a $4 million book deal to write a pandemic memoir about his amazing leadership, then violated the ethics of his office by making state employees work on the manuscript.

And yet, throughout all this, he continued to play moral authority — and the media, including his brother Chris at CNN, colluded to reinforce the message. Without this MeToo moment to interrupt his stride, who knows how long New York’s naked emperor would’ve kept on strolling?

Cuomo has raged that the allegations against him are politically motivated. And in truth, yes, some of them probably are. Just as tax evasion was hardly Al Capone’s worst offence, the imperviousness to scandal of someone like Cuomo begets a prosecutorial, let’s-find-something-to-charge-him-with mentality, which in turn begets the weaponisation of sexual misconduct allegations against a man whose worst crimes are something else entirely.

And yes, this is a trend that threatens to weaken due process and cheapen the legitimate issue of workplace harassment.

But if the opportunistic tarring of Andrew Cuomo as a pervert is bad, so too is corruption, and conspiracy, and nepotism, and finger-wagging at the public over their Thanksgiving travel plans after your egotism and ineptitude just killed off fifteen thousand grandparents. And if the government and media would stop providing partisan cover for political werewolves, maybe desperate citizens wouldn’t feel the need to use MeToo as a silver bullet.


Kat Rosenfield is an UnHerd columnist and co-host of the Feminine Chaos podcast. Her latest novel is You Must Remember This.

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Cheryl Jones
Cheryl Jones
3 years ago

The ridiculousness and political opportunism of #MeToo is making me not take #MeToo accusations as seriously. Touching my shoulder in the office twenty years ago isn’t ‘traumatising’ or worthy of police involvement. I’m a woman, I’ve experienced a LOT of inappropriate male behaviour over my lifetime, some more serious than others, it’s not as if I don’t understand. But you can’t make a touched knee a police case years after the fact when you didn’t even say ‘no’ at the time. No means No. But you have to say it. The onus is still on men to do more of the chasing so how is a man meant to flirt at a party with someone he likes, and who is possibly flirting back, without taking a chance here and there?? Do women really want a guy too afraid to make a move at all? These boundaries used to be policed by social etiquettes and women being clear in the moment with a No or a slap in the face. When did women become such cowardly pussies that they couldn’t take that responsibility? Because that’s what these cases seem to revolve around. Knee touching, hugging, inappropriate jokes. Not rape, not stalking, not discrimination in the workplace. In 2021 men know pretty much anything they do or say could potentially get them accused or fired. They know. And we’re seeing behaviours that back that up. Men are actually taking steps to protect *themselves* because despite our supposedly enlightened, empowered times there are women out there who don’t like being scorned, and who are perfectly capable of lying or exaggerating to get their own way. I’ve seen that bad behaviour too. And they often get away with it in just as vile and destructive a way. Sexual politics is never black and white, it’s not just a men bad/ women victim equation. The law is supposed to presume innocence not bow to the convenient presumption of guilt in trial by media. Intent is important. Outcome is important. Did the man not accept the No, did he physically hurt you, verbally abuse you, did he take a No and then pass you over for the promotion you deserved, or that he promised you while he thought he had a chance? Those elements seem somewhat absent. When I read the Bill Cosby accusations I felt genuine anger, Jimmy Savile, anger. That’s my usual reaction to abusive behaviour. So why don’t I feel that way about this? In the Prince Andrew case apparently a Spitting Image puppet touching a breast at a party 20 years ago has left the ‘victim’ trying to ‘move on from the trauma’. Really? You find that traumatising? Grow up. If MeToo is to be taken seriously male behaviour needs to be called out there and then and the benefit of MeToo should be that any negative repercussions for calling it out on the woman would be the genuine protections of the law. These stunning and brave accusers need to start being stunning and brave in the moment so men don’t continue to see this low level bad behaviour as harmless. Most of these accusations of abuse and harassment don’t, in my mind, constitute anything worth going to the police or the press for, they should be dealt with immediately and personally and there is a danger in making a touched knee into a crime as serious as rape or real harassment. The fact that these allegations also seem to be politically motivated demeans their case. It’s like we see with BLM, everything is becoming racist because victimhood is becoming increasingly profitable and ideologically useful. The consequences be damned. This is paying a great disservice to relationships between races and genders and diminishing the impact of real racism and sexual violence or discrimination. Cuomo should have been taken down for his real and political crimes. Hugging someone in the office, sorry but that’s pathetic.

Johann Strauss
Johann Strauss
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

Very well said. Couldn’t agree with you more.

Deborah B
Deborah B
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

You make an important point that I have long wanted to shout from the rooftops. A slap on the face should be the response to inappropriate sexual behaviour. Teach it in schools right now.
Oh, sorry. That’s now called assault. My mistake.

Cheryl Jones
Cheryl Jones
3 years ago
Reply to  Deborah B

It could also be deemed appropriate self-defence in the face of inappropriate behaviour.

hairyco2
hairyco2
3 years ago
Reply to  Deborah B

I actually agree haha

hairyco2
hairyco2
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

I agree. And I know it is controversial, I am not sure why, but I also feel that the accused and accuser should remain anonymous until the latter is proven guilty. If the accused crimes are so serious in nature, then they should be detained temporarily, but if the accuser’s claims prove to be false. They should face consequences that are equal and be detained for a similar period. Similar to if one is found to have committed fraud.
I do not doubt that sexually inappropriate behaviour takes place, however, the #metoo movement has become a vehicle for far-reaching political agendas and is causing a measurable degree of social division.

Last edited 3 years ago by hairyco2
Penny Adrian
Penny Adrian
2 years ago
Reply to  hairyco2

The reason we can’t give “consequences” to people who falsely accuse someone of a crime is that everyone would be afraid to report any crime. For example, if you are mugged, and you give a description to the police that leads to a false arrest, you could be charged with a crime. You would probably be terrified of giving any kind of witness statement for any reason. This would be a free pass for criminals to victimize you or anyone else they wanted.

David Morley
David Morley
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

Well said. Nobody likes sleazeballs, but a slap on the face or a put down is surely better than calling the police for something minor.
And is the tindr meat market really better than the risk that some men might genuinely misread the signals they are getting in a face to face situation.

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

Very well put but I have to say I’ve experienced a LOT of inappropriate female behaviour over my lifetime.
There will always be the chronically stupid, but for a very long time now men have been very well aware that anything they say or do could get them into serious trouble and likely fired. It is far more common in my experience for women to make sexually loaded comments/gestures and no one dares challenge them over it.
As for men doing the chasing, why on earth would they want to do that?

Andrew Fisher
Andrew Fisher
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

While I agree with much of what you say, it is a very long spiel somewhat missing the point that Cuomo’s real crimes are far worse than groping a few women. He was an appallingly bad leader in the covid crisis, cauing the deaths of thousands of elderly people, while deciding that a good use of his time was to write a book. He was lionised by the American Left and nearly all the mainstream media on the grounds he opposed Trump.

Roger Inkpen
Roger Inkpen
3 years ago
Reply to  Cheryl Jones

What next? Politicians who kiss babies will be accused of paedophilia?
Cuomo’s state had one of the worst records on Covid deaths in the western world. Whether he handled it well should be what matters. From this side of the pond, the US media seemed to be so obsessed with Trump that Cuomo got a free pass.

Matt Hindman
Matt Hindman
3 years ago

The best part about this whole thing is that Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, is doing the same thing to Cuomo that he did to Eliot Spitzer, the previous governor, when he was the Attorney General. Cannot make this stuff up kids!

Last edited 3 years ago by Matt Hindman
Christopher Barclay
Christopher Barclay
3 years ago

Cuomo was not brought down by his inability to follow changing social customs over decades as by changing circumstances since Biden won the Presidency. For most of last year, the narrative in the Democrat supporting media was that Trump had made a mess of Covid but Governor Cuomo was an example of a Democrat who had in contrast responded competently. The care home deaths were covered up and Cuomo was given a $5m book deal. He was seen as playing a positive role in getting Biden elected.
All this changed with Biden’s election victory. Cuomo had served his purpose and he was now seen as a threat to Harris winning the nomination for the 2024 election. He had to be politically eliminated. Fortunately for the Democrat Establishment, this was easy. The protection he had received from prominent women such as Melissa DeRosa and Democrat controlled organisations linked to the MeToo movement were removed. The accusations of sexual harassment which have been suppressed for years could now be made public. The small piranhas in New York politics, people such as Letitia James who want to replace Cuomo as Governor, were given the green light to attack him.
Cuomo is the third successive Governor of New York to fail to finish his term due to a sex scandal. All were Democrats.

Lee Jones
Lee Jones
3 years ago

Probably the most balanced/sensible article about #metoo I’ve read, although I’d not heard of the man. So many creepy politicos, just keeping up with the ones in my on country takes up more time than I have.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
3 years ago

Pity all his celebrity fans that came out as ‘Cuomosexual’. How quick they are to disown him. With friends like these who needs enemies?

Deborah B
Deborah B
3 years ago

I’m looking forward to the time when all the sanctimonious finger pointers, the self righteous accusers and the band wagon jumping self promoters get their own #Metoo moment.
Because, as sure as eggs are eggs, (although gender neutral and non binary eggs are also available) nobody living on this earth is without some dodgy stain on their reputation.
And while all this pointless effort and energy is being expended on such issues, real world problems are not getting the necessary attention.
The wasted paper used on the report and the hot air expended by the protagonists are both environmental crimes. Get those fingers out and start pointing immediately!

hairyco2
hairyco2
3 years ago
Reply to  Deborah B

Well said.

Richard Lyon
Richard Lyon
3 years ago

No invocation of #MeToo as an attempted thought-stopper is complete without recalling that, shortly before making her accusations of sexual impropriety, one its originators — Asia Argento — allegedly groomed and raped a minor and settled out of court with him.
There are legitimate grounds for moralising about Cuomo’s behaviour. Invoking a morally bankrupt ploy from a morally bankrupt ideology is not one of them.

Francis MacGabhann
Francis MacGabhann
3 years ago

The Democrats were always dirty baskets, in every sense of the term. I don’t really know how to take this. On the one hand, it’s an absolutely delicious example of how the left poisons everything it touches, including itself; on the other hand, this clown’s got thousands of deaths in nursing homes on his watch and apparently, that’s not a problem — but God forbid he should touch a woman in a way that has retrospectively been judged inappropriate. But I suppose that’s leftist logic at work.

Don Butler
Don Butler
3 years ago

This morsel of juicy scandal is actually pretty convenient for Cuomo. It might just avert the rather timid hounds long enough to help him evade a criminal charge of at least 2nd degree manslaughter. Instead of hearing “shame, shame, you bad boy” he should be hearing the clank of a cell door shutting him away for the rest of his miserable life.

Jordan Flower
Jordan Flower
3 years ago

Cuomo getting metooed was always a distraction from the massive nursing home scandal and subsequent document shredding and cover up.

hairyco2
hairyco2
3 years ago

This was merely petty tactics by the republicans to weaken their opponents. An eye for an eye on the top political stage. it will be a wider belief that Cuomo’s behaviour, in reality, was nothing short of playful inappropriate flirting. And until there are evidence-backed examples that are undoubtedly more serious than an unskilled man trying his luck. I have little confidence in the merit of Metoo. Should an unwelcome lothario or seductress be called out for their actions? Of course, but these matters should be easily mitigated and I think we all should take issue that the Metoo movement has developed a god complex that is tremendously condescending and short-sighted and relies desperately on lack of due diligence to do its work. I cannot seriously give any weight or trust to a largely unpopular Marxist feminist movement that blocks out the rich granular narratives of history in exchange for a pixelated version to wage its war. Anything that has so many double standards is clearly gynocentric and until the media address this more sincerely, there will always be concerns.

Sean Penley
Sean Penley
3 years ago
Reply to  hairyco2

Um, this wasn’t the Republicans behind this one. They tried to get him on his COVID response and failed. This attack came from a fellow Democrat, and one that ironically he helped get into the very position that allowed her to make this attack. As this article mentions, and as I have seen discussed elsewhere when she first started this investigation, there is a chance that this was attempt by James to open the way for her own run on his seat. Granted, this is indeed a fairly petty way to get rid of a political opponent. But she couldn’t well take the COVID angle, despite that very much being a matter of substance; that had already failed and would have left her associated with the Republicans, which is political suicide for an NY governor candidate. So she tried another tack. And to be honest, if it turns out the allegations are true, I think they would have made him an inappropriate candidate to run for governor again. These kind of things can get you fired as a janitor at a private company, why should they be okay for someone holding the top position in the state? Immediate resignation is a bit more unclear (though still–that janitor or middle manager at a private company would be let go immediately), but given how long he has been resisting it so far and even promising he would never resign earlier in the year, it makes me suspect he knows there really is finally enough material to get him in trouble. And now that he’s a private citizen again, he can just call up his brother and have CNN run interference for him on this story. That would have been inappropriate as a governor…oh, wait…

L Walker
L Walker
3 years ago
Reply to  hairyco2

Wrong. Letitia James is a democrat.

Terry Needham
Terry Needham
3 years ago

I must be virtuous, or maybe just smarter than average, because during a lifetime’s experience of ever changing sexual and moral fashions and taboos, I have always managed to keep my hands and my tongue to myself. Have I been disadvanteged? No, not noticably. Slobbering and fumbling over a woman, like a mangy alley cat is not a particularly effective way of getting into her bed. And anyway, If she actually wants you in her bed, she’ll let you know, without you needing to grope her to check her out.

Last edited 3 years ago by Terry Needham
Roger Inkpen
Roger Inkpen
3 years ago

If they ever re-make The Godfather, I can think of an out of work Italian-American politician who’d look the part…

Julie Kemp
Julie Kemp
3 years ago

Good commentary. The sex and gender bits have far exceeded the truly unforgivable pandemic transfer of sick elderlies improperly and conveniently returned to nursing homes so prematurely. Coupled with his behavioural of so-called Latin cultural mannerisms (ie excuses which he ought to have been fit to sublimate if he had any sense of his social context) this aging immature male person has no right to be in a leadership role of any kind – either in church or state domains.

Penny Adrian
Penny Adrian
2 years ago

I agree with some of this, but not all of it.
My concern is that “sexual assault” as a term has become as misleading as “sex work”, because both terms encompass so much that the term has no meaning.
As an adult, I don’t consider getting grabbed on the butt criminal sexual assault. I consider it sexual harassment which, in the context of the workplace, should get a reprimand and a warning from HR, then firing if it happens again.
If a boss or a teacher grabs an employee or student’s butt, that’s harassment and the boss/teacher should lose their jobs and possibly be sued.
Any adult who inappropriately touches a child is a pig who should be arrested and jailed and put on the sex offender registry.
When it comes to actual sexual violence – such as when a person is trapped in a situation where sexual contact is forced upon them – the perpetrator should be arrested, charged, convicted, and imprisoned until his d**k falls off.
Sadly, most actual sex offenders rarely spend a day in prison or experience any kind of public shaming, while high profile idiots who make women feel uncomfortable are dragged through the streets and pilloried.
The term “sexual assault” should not cover everything from a butt grab to child rape. And yet it does.
“Sex work” is another misleading term used to cover owning a brothel, producing porn, camming, and giving blow jobs next to a dumpster behind a gas station.
All of these are PROFOUNDLY different things.
But the Woke Left obscures inconvenient realities by using vague terms that can be abused to spread lies (such as the lie that “sex work is work”. My god, how childish and naive).
Anyway, #MeToo needs to draw a hard line between sexual harassment, sexual assault, and child abuse so that crimes can be prosecuted as crimes, and harassment can be handled by HR.
But the opportunists won’t let that happen, because they never really cared about ending sexual violence anyway.