Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested Monday that those speaking out against him “just want attention” and are “jealous.”
The New York Democrat discussed his many #MeToo accusers during the first in-person press conference he has held since November. He also addressed a New York Times Magazine story alleging he referred to Jews as “these people and their f–king treehouses” and told a male official, “you’d be a good-looking tranny if you get a good set of tits.”
“Governor, The New York Times put out a story a couple of weeks ago, where they interviewed 80 people either close to you or had worked with you, and they detailed accounts that you had said things like anti-trans slurs and also some to the effect of saying that Jews lived in F-ing tree houses,” New York Post reporter Bernadettte Hogan asked Cuomo, adding, “Did you say these things?
Cuomo denied these reports, the New York Post reported.
“I never said any such things,’’ Cuomo said. “They printed slurs and slander, and you’d have to ask them why they did that.”
“Why do people say things? Who knows. People are venial. People want attention. People are angry. People are jealous. Who knows why people spread rumors?” he added when the reporter asked why the Times’ many sources would have said “those things” if they were not true.
Andrew “rape culture king” Cuomo. https://t.co/3HEGLAFD1V
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) April 27, 2021
Cuomo advisor Richard Azzopardi told the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday morning that the New York Post took Cuomo’s comments out of context.
“Once again the Post has willfully distorted and misreported the Governor’s statement,” Azzopardi said in a statement issued Monday morning. “The Post asked the Governor at a press conference yesterday about a New York Times story using blind sources to claim the Governor made anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic statements. The Post asked why these ‘people say those things’ in the Times story.”
“The Post then intentionally distorted this interaction to say that the Governor’s response was to ‘accusers,’ presenting this exchange to readers as if it was about sexual harassment complaints,” Azzopardi continued. “It was not. That was untrue and false reporting and should be corrected if they have any journalistic integrity.”
The embattled governor is being investigated by both the state attorney general’s office for allegations of workplace sexual misconduct and by the Department of Justice for his role in knowingly undercounting the deaths of New York nursing home patients.
On Monday, Cuomo again denied that he had groped or sexually harassed female staffers and said he did not regret inviting young female staffers to the governor’s mansion, ostensibly for their help.
“I have many women who were working in state government. I’m very proud that we probably have more women in senior positions than ever before,” he said. “And I think that’s a good thing.”
Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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