Governor Andrew Cuomo and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

#MeToo

It’s been another busy week in Shitty Men News, led largely by one New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Fresh on the heels of the revelation that his office tried to cover up the number of COVID-19-associated deaths that were directly tied to his administration’s policy of sending recovering patients into nursing homes, Governor Cuomo was dragged into a sexual harassment scandal that just seems to grow every day. On Wednesday, Lindsey Boylan, a former Cuomo aide, revealed in a blog post that Governor Cuomo forcibly kissed her, touched her, made comments about her appearance, and suggested that they play strip poker while she was one of his employees. Governor Cuomo called her allegations, “quite simply false.”

Then, on Saturday, a second aide, Charlotte Bennett, told The New York Times that Governor Cuomo asked inappropriate questions about her sex life and whether she had ever had sex with an older man. As for Governor Cuomo:

In his statement, Mr. Cuomo called Ms. Bennett a “hard-working and valued member” of his staff with “every right to speak out.” He said that Ms. Bennett had spoken to him about being a sexual assault survivor — an experience about which she had been open in the past — and he had tried to be supportive and helpful. “The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported,” the governor said.

The governor did not deny that he asked Ms. Bennett personal questions; he said in the statement that he would have no further comment until the review concluded.

He also claimed he was just being “playful” and making “jokes.”

And then yesterday, a third accuser came forward, saying that he touched her inappropriately and tried to kiss her against her will at a wedding. While she was not one of his employees, his behavior towards her does seem to corroborate the accusations of his former aides.

New York Attorney General Letitia James is going to be setting up an independent investigation into all of the allegations against the Governor.

Meanwhile, CNN has finally decided that maybe it’s not appropriate for Chris Cuomo to interview his brother or cover stories that involve him after all. Huh! Why not?

Mara Wilson, the former child actress, wrote an amazing, brilliant essay for The New York Times in response to this Britney Spears reckoning, about the nightmare that is growing up a young woman in the Hollywood machine. It is worth your time.

Meanwhile, Jamie Spears, Britney’s father, is out there claiming that he saved Britney’s life. And honestly, I don’t doubt that he did. But that was 13 years ago. It’s time to allow an adult woman to be in charge of her own life.

In the wake of all this, people continue to take a hard look at some of David Letterman’s interviews, including this awkward one with Paris Hilton. A good reminder that it wasn’t just Britney who was a target of pop culture’s insatiable appetite for the “train wreck.” 

And while pop culture has become somewhat better about not treating women so horribly, Taylor Swift is here to remind you and Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia that we still have some work to do.

At least 11 women have accused rapper and reality TV star T.I. Harris and his wife Tameka “Tiny,” of rape, kidnapping, drugging, and terrorizing them over several years. The Harrises deny all of the accusations. However, T.I. has dropped out of the third Ant-Man film.

Zachery Ty Bryan, one of the sons on Tim Allen’s 90s sitcom Home Improvement, plead guilty to two felony counts of domestic abuse and was given three years probation.

John Geddert, the coach of the 2012 Olympic gymnastics team, was charged with multiple counts of human trafficking and sexual assault last week. Hours later, Geddert killed himself, denying his victims any real justice for his crimes.

Brett Rattner’s Milli Vanilli movie that no one asked for is no longer happening thanks to Time’s Out’s protest.

YouTuber James Charles is denying even more accusations that he groomed underage fans.

Variety has interviewed 11 people who worked closely with Joss Whedon on Buffy or Angel and they all basically confirm everything he’s being accused of if you’re still interested in that particular saga. Also, this is an excellent Jezebel essay on the whole thing, basically arguing that our culture’s obsession with Whedon being a feminist was misplaced all along and took away much-deserved credit from countless women from the actors to the writers to the producers who also made Buffy the Vampire Slayer a feminist work.

Netflix is doing a better job than other studios at hiring female directors and creatives.

The global head of visual effects at Amazon is suing the company after he claims he upgraded a flight from New Zealand — which is against company policy if it’s done on Amazon’s dime. Except … according to the lawsuit, he was called into HR where he was asked: “Have you ever asked your assistant to run personal errands?” “Have you ever sent your assistant a picture of a cartoon penis?” “Have you ever instructed your assistant to break policy?”

I’m sorry, he was asked if he sent his assistant drawings of penises? Yeah, I’m thinking there’s more to this story than just him being fired because Amazon is cheap. I doubt we’ll hear anything more about it, but the cojones on this guy to sue Amazon when it sure sounds like he was harassing his very put-upon assistant!

All Other TV News

No one watched The Golden Globes, and honestly, it was for the best. Y’all didn’t miss anything.

Bachelor producers have finally gotten around to telling their fans to leave Rachel Lindsay alone. Which great but why did it take them so long?

The King of Queens cast is reuniting for a table read to honor Jerry Stiller and raise money for Henry Street Settlement.

Why isn’t Eric Nies living with the rest of the cast in Real World Homecoming: New York? HIs cryptic explanation is that it is “not by my choice, but I accepted the outcome — more will be revealed in the future.” What does THAT mean??

Is Grey’s Anatomy going to end this season? IT’S A MYSTERY.

Kayleigh McEnany is joining Fox News as it was always meant to be.

Starz is owned by Lionsgate, so it’s not much of a surprise that it will soon be the exclusive home of Lionsgate films for streaming purposes.

Amazon has apologized to viewers who were offended by that Indian series Tandav.

Going Viral

The number of new cases continues to inch back up: new weekly average cases and deaths have edged up by 4%. We had over 1,400 deaths yesterday, which is not great! But I come with fantastic news: The Biden administration worked out a deal in which Merck will also manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine which could potentially double the supply available. This is huge news.

It took a pandemic to bring down peak TV. We are now experiencing the lag that was caused by the production shutdowns in the spring and summer, and it might be a while before we get out of this game show-filled hell.

Comic-Con will be in person this year — in November. They are still planning on having an online event July 23-25. And honestly? This sounds like a very solid plan.

And Disney is trying to see the bright side to the parks being closed in California. According to CEO Bob Chapek, they used the downtime to tinker with the technology and enhance immersive experiences and personalization for the visitor.

Chapek also has bad news for theaters: there’s probably no going back to the traditional model of movie theaters having exclusive rights to new releases for at least 90 days. Other analysts agree.

Renewals

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal will debut on Netflix on March 17.
  • Jupiter’s Legacy will debut on Netflix on May 7.

R.I.P.

Vernon Jordan, Civil rights activist and advisor to President Clinton

WATCH THIS

Soul of a Nation: This new six-episode series will “present viewers with a unique window into authentic realities of Black life and dive deeper into this critical moment of racial reckoning.” The first episode will include interviews with U.S. Capitol police officer Harry Dunn about the insurrection on January 6, and interviews with Sterling K. Brown, Angela Rye, and John Legend. 9 p.m., ABC

The Flash: A dangerous plan is hatched to try to restore Barry’s speed in the season premiere. 7 p.m., The CW

New Amsterdam: As if dealing with a pandemic isn’t hard enough, the hospital now has to contend with a plane crash in the East River. When did this become Grey’s Anatomy? Season premiere. 9 p.m., NBC

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Nick Jonas, Rita Ora
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Regina King, Kathryn Hahn, Chang-rae Lee
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jon Batiste
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Stacey Abrams, JP Saxe & Maren Morris
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Charles Barkley, Mads Mikkelsen, Davido
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Randall Park
  • Watch What Happens Live: Diane Von Furstenberg, Catherine Zeta-Jones
  • A Little Late with Lily Singh: Fortune Feimster

TUES. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC To Tell the Truth

(new)		 black-ish

(new)		 mixed-ish

(new)		 Soul of a Nation
(new)
CBS NCIS
(new)		 FBI
(new)		 FBI: Most Wanted
(new)
CW The Flash
(new)		 Superman and Lois
(new)		 Local
FOX The Resident
(new)		 Prodigal Son
(new)		 News/Local
NBC Young Rock
(new)		 Kenan
(new)		 The Voice
(new)		 New Amsterdam
(new)

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