On Monday night, The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, who was one of the first late-night hosts to really give it to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after it was revealed that he’d covered up thousands of COVID-19 nursing home deaths, unleashed his most brutal takedown yet of Cuomo.
“A few weeks ago, Cuomo was hit with sexual-harassment accusations from two former staffers But, much like coronavirus in New York nursing homes, the allegations have only been getting worse,” said Noah.
Yes, up to seven women have accused Governor Cuomo of sexual harassment—including a number of aides, one of whom said that he “aggressively groped her” while they were alone in his private residence. A recent New York magazine investigation featured 30 women who concluded that “bullying was a defining element of his management style,” while a New York Times piece compared Cuomo’s deeply sexist office environment to that of Mad Men.
“Whew, these allegations are some serious shit. Bullying and groping women, a Mad Men office culture, and pushing women to wear dresses and heels? It sounds like Cuomo basically thought of himself as a bouncer outside a nightclub—which is convenient for him, because that might be his job in a couple months,” joked Noah. “And practically every day now, there are more and more accusations piling up. It’s getting so bad that he’s going to have to bring back his PowerPoint slides just to track the harassment claims.”
“I mean, just in the past couple of weeks, we’ve heard about him harassing staffers, journalists, wedding guests. It seems like no women in New York were safe from this guy. At some point, we’re gonna find out the Statue of Liberty only holds that torch so she can fend him off,” he added.
A number of New York members of Congress, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, as well as Reps. Jerry Nadler, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jamaal Bowman, have called on Cuomo to resign. And to add insult to self-injury, Cuomo was recently spotted covered in a blanket, cradling a bottled beverage, and talking on the phone.
“No one wants anything to do with Cuomo,” said Noah. “Yes, many Democrats say that Cuomo can no longer effectively lead New York, and photos like this one aren’t helping. I mean, if you’re walking around outside wearing a blanket you don’t look like you’re on top of things. You look like you’ve either got saved from a drowning car or you live with 100 cats.”
If all that weren’t enough, The Washington Post reported that Cuomo’s “vaccine czar,” Jerry Schwartz, is said to have called county executives to advocate on Cuomo’s behalf in the wake of the sexual-harassment allegations—a move that likely crossed ethical boundaries, given that he can determine who gets the vaccine.
Still, Cuomo has said he isn’t going anywhere. “People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture, and the truth,” he maintained, further claiming that he was not “part of the political club.”
“That’s right,” offered Noah. “From the time he became governor 10 years ago, to his years as attorney general, back to when he worked in the Clinton administration, Andrew Cuomo has never been part of a political club—and if you disagree, you can drive your ass out of New York on the bridge they named after his governor dad.”
Noah continued: “I gotta be honest: If this is ‘cancel culture,’ well then, I have no idea what ‘cancel culture’ means anymore. I guess it’s about letting Dr. Seuss books be racist but also letting politicians get away with sexual harassment?”
