This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on what’s really going on inside the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
Disgraced anchor Chris Cuomo attempted to set CNN ablaze with his $125 million lawsuit earlier this year all while he had secret aspirations of putting out fires, Confider has learned.
The former CNN primetime star applied for a volunteer position with the East Hampton Fire Department earlier this year but his application was withdrawn a short time after meeting with chiefs, two people familiar with the matter told Confider.
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Cuomo, who shares a home with his wife Christina Cuomo in extremely prestigious Southampton, seemed “eager” to become a member of the all-volunteer squad, according to our sources, but balked at the time commitment.
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“It’s a very time-consuming thing. There are monthly meetings and drills and you have to meet a percentage of your calls,” EHFD Chief Duane Forrester told Confider. “That’s why we don’t have many celebrities.”
Since getting shitcanned by CNN, Cuomo has popped up in various bizarre ways.
First he sued his former employer and threw some ex-colleagues, including ex-BFF Don Lemon, under the bus; then last month he visited war-torn Ukraine; and then last week he teased a comeback in an Instagram video featuring selfies of himself smoking a stogie; and now he’s released vague promos for “The Chris Cuomo Project” and unveiled a merch line with shirts and hoodies blaring “FREE AGENT” on the front and “Are You Free?” on the back.
A rep for Cuomo declined to comment.
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