Tuesday 4 October 2022 01:57 AM Chris Cuomo says he 'learned lessons' after being fired from CNN as he begins ... trends now
Chris Cuomo has returned to the airwaves for the first time since he was ousted from CNN, insisting that he has 'learnt lessons' from his ignominious departure, and promising to counter 'groupthink'.
'This show will be topical, but it won't be typical,' said Cuomo, 52.
'I'm not going to follow the pack - I'm here to expose the game.'
Cuomo was fired from CNN in December 2021 after it emerged that he had been secretly advising his brother Andrew, the then-governor of New York, on media strategy when he was confronted with allegations of sexual harassment.
Cuomo is currently suing CNN for $125 million in unpaid wages.
On Monday night, the fallen star anchor said he had had time to think about his mistakes and learn from them.
Chris Cuomo on Monday launched his new NewsNation show
Cuomo is reportedly earning $1 million a year at NewsNation - a sharp decrease from his CNN salary of $6 million annually
Quoting Shakespeare's The Tempest, Cuomo said he believed 'the past is prologue'.
'All that has happened before has led to this moment,' he told viewers.
'I've learnt lessons, good and bad.'
Cuomo thanked his family, friends, and therapist for their support, and said he was excited to return to the news anchor role.
He said he was 'humbled by what happened, and hungry to do better than before', promising to 'do more - to not just play, or even referee, the game'.
Cuomo's CNN show was the top-rated program in both 2019 and 2020, averaging two million nightly viewers in 2020.
NewsNation averaged only 46,000 viewers in prime time last year, The Washington Post reported.
Cuomo last week told podcast host Kara Swisher that he knew his new show was a step down - but on Monday he said he still had a lot to give.
He insisted he had unparalleled insight into politics, owing to his father and brother being former governors of New York.
'I've seen the inner workings of campaigns,' he said.
'I know the deal, inside and out.
'I want to bring all of that to the table to help you.
'I want you to count on me to going where it matters.'
And he said he was aiming to provide 'depth of discussion'.
'As loud and as angry as our world can sound: regular people like you, not the fringe, are the overwhelming majority,' he said.
'We are still nowhere near our potential. We are manipulated by manufactured division.'
He said his show would be 'old school', promoting a phone line for people to call in.
He said he wanted discussion, not social media diatribes - 'not raging radicals or someone with keyboard muscles.'
Chris Cuomo on the set of his new NewsNation show, which launched on Monday at 8pm EST
His NewsNation show is set to feature guests like Anthony Fauci, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Maher, and Tulsi Gabbard in its first week.
On Monday his guests included John Bolton, Dan Rather, and Bill Maher.
Cuomo's debut came mere days after implying the new show was a step down from his former primetime glory.
During his appearance on On With Kara Swisher last week, the NY Magazine editor pointed out the incongruity of Cuomo's lawsuit's claims about his future employment, versus his new primetime show.
Cuomo will reportedly earn $1 million for his new hosting gig on NewsNation - a fraction of his former $6 million-a-year paycheck at CNN.
'And you have a new job now, which I’d like to talk about, so you can be hired apparently,' Swisher asked Cuomo, after reading a passage from his lawsuit.
'Well, do you believe that where I am now is equivalent to where I was?' Cuomo responded.
'Depends on what you do with it,' Swisher said.
'I’m talking to you in my dining room. I was the number one show at CNN and I would be recognized in Malawi as much as I would be in Milwaukee. That is a very different.'
Swisher, editor of New York Magazine, asked Cuomo how his firing from CNN made him unhireable as he has already landed a new job
Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was grilled by journalist Kara Swisher and asked about his
