Chris Cuomo (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for WarnerMedia)
Late last year, CNN fans were shocked when popular host Chris Cuomo was terminated by the network for allegedly withholding the help he was giving his brother Andrew Cuomo amid his sexual misconduct allegations. Fast forward to the present, and now according to recently filed documents, Chris Cuomo has filed a $125 arbitration demand (which is an attempt to avoid court proceedings) against CNN for wrongfully terminating him and destroying his character privately and publicly.
@Deadline exclusively reports, through his legal team Freedman + Taitelman LLP and Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder LLP, Chris Cuomo has just filed a $125 million arbitration against his former employer CNN following his termination back in December 2021. The filing explains the reasoning for the arbitration and the breakdown of the monetary amount Cuomo is seeking. “As a result of Turner’s indefensible choice to unceremoniously fire him, Cuomo has been damaged in countless ways. Cuomo has had his journalistic integrity unjustifiably smeared, making it difficult if not impossible for Cuomo to find similar work in the future and damaging him in amounts exceeding $125 million, which includes not only the remaining salary owed under the Agreement, but future wages lost as a result of CNN’s efforts to destroy his reputation in violation of the Agreement. Cuomo now seeks to recover the full measure of his damages against Turner and CNN,” the arbitration states.
The $125 million splits into two parts, $110 million for “consequential damages” and an additional $15 million of what Cuomo and his attorneys say was the remaining amount left on his CNN contract when his was terminated on December 4th. One of Chris Cuomo’s attorneys, Bryan Freedman, exclusively told Deadline that “It should by now be obvious that Chris Cuomo did not lie to CNN about helping his brother. In fact, as the limited information released from WarnerMedia’s investigation makes clear, CNN’s highest-level executives not only knew about Chris’s involvement in helping his brother but also actively assisted the Governor, both through Chris and directly themselves.”
Freedman continued, adding “As CNN has admitted, network standards were changed in a calculated decision to boost ratings. When those practices were called into question, Chris was made the scapegoat. The legal action filed today makes clear that CNN wrongfully terminated Chris and further violated the express terms of his employment agreement by allowing its employees to disparage him. Chris is owed a full apology from those responsible.”
Furthermore, there is also a section of the arbitration filing that details how CNN disparaged Cuomo’s character due to former CNN head Jeff Zucker (who was recently involved in his own sex scandal prompting his exit) failing to abide by the terms of the Agreement that instructed CNN employees not to disparage Cuomo. It also states that not only were other company employees guilty of disparaging his name, Zucker was allegedly the ring leader.
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