On Monday CNN propagandist Chris Cuomo was captured on video berating and physically threatening a man identified as a Trump supporter after the man referred to the news anchor as “Fredo.”
The video, which appears below is X-rated since every other word out of Cuomo’s mouth is an F-bomb, but the network has so far given Cuomo a pass, claiming as he himself has that he was “provoked” by the user of an ethnic slur.
NewsBusters’s Nicholas Fondacaro sets the stage for the ugly incident:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Before the video started rolling, the unidentified man apparently called Cuomo by the name “Fredo.” The name was a stinging nickname stemming from the disgraced Fedo Corleone character in The Godfather film. Over the years, it’s been a favorite jab at him from people on the right. But according to Cuomo, it was an ethnic slur on par with the “N-word.”
Fondacaro notes that “[a]s a second-generation Italian-American” himself, he has “never heard ‘Fredo’ used as an ethnic slur, let alone it being on the same level as the ‘N-word’.” The name, he adds, is a diminutive form of “Alfredo,” making it odd that a family would name its child with an ethnic slur.
A partial transcript from the two-minute video can be found after the video, which follows (warning — graphic language):
I assume @cnn not available for comment. Imagine their coverage of this if they were a real news organization? https://t.co/uH2biAkKUZ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 13, 2019
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 1: I thought that’s who you were.
CHRIS CUOMO: No, punk ass bitches from the right call me Fredo. My name is Chris Cuomo, I’m an anchor on CNN. Fredo is from The Godfather. He was that weak brother. And they use it as an Italian aspersion. Any of you Italian?
MAN: I got a little bit Italian.
CUOMO: Are you Italian? It’s a f*cking insult to your people.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2 (from off-camera): I didn’t know that.
CUOMO: It’s an insult to your f*cking people. It’s like the N-word for us. Is that a cool f*cking thing?
MAN 1: I don’t have a problem with you man.
CUOMO: You’re going to have a f*cking problem.
MAN 1: What? What are you going to do about it?
CUOMO: I’ll f*cking ruin your sh*t. I’ll f*cking throw you down these stairs like a f*cking punk.
MAN 1: Please do.
CUOMO: Why, so you can f*cking sue?
MAN 1: You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to do that.
CUOMO: So you can f*cking sue?
MAN 1: But why don’t you do that then?
CUOMO: Then take a f*cking swing. You want to call me Fredo then take a f*cking swing.
MAN 1: I’m not going to take a swing at you.
CUOMO [presumably at Man 2]: Watch your f*cking hands.
After the video went viral, CNN spokesperson Matt Dornic defended Cuomo’s profanity-laced threat of violence. “Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him,” Dornic said on Twitter.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig also defended Cuomo and actively endorsed Cuomo’s profane threat.
But, another Twitter user noted it’s not the first time Cuomo has heard the term “Fredo.” When fellow CNN correspondent Ana Navarro used this “Italian N-word” to denigrate to Donald Trump, Jr., Cuomo was unfazed:
It is not an ethnic slur. How disgusting to equate Fredo to the N word. If you are looking for the definition, listen to Ana.https://t.co/c4yRDdkpNs
— sarainitaly???? (@sarainitaly) August 13, 2019
Hypocrisy much?
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