{"id":191887,"date":"2021-03-02T03:52:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/cuomos-joking-sexual-harassment-defense-falls-flat\/"},"modified":"2021-03-02T03:52:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T00:52:37","slug":"cuomos-joking-sexual-harassment-defense-falls-flat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/cuomos-joking-sexual-harassment-defense-falls-flat\/","title":{"rendered":"#Cuomo’s ‘joking’ sexual harassment defense falls flat"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Cuomo’s ‘joking’ sexual harassment defense falls flat<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s characterization of the sexual harassment he\u2019s accused of inflicting on staffers as just \u201cbeing playful\u201d and making \u201cjokes\u201d fell flat on Monday, with one of his accusers and Mayor Bill de Blasio both slamming the \u201cnon-apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuomo, 63, offered the dubious defense on Sunday, a day after Charlotte Bennett became the second former staffer in a matter of days to accuse the governor of sexual harassment on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we know, abusers \u2014 particularly those with tremendous amounts of power \u2014 are often repeat offenders who engage in manipulative tactics to diminish allegations, blame victims, deny wrongdoing and escape consequences,\u201d said Bennett, 25, in a scathing statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took the governor 24 hours and significant backlash to allow for a truly independent investigation,\u2019\u2019 continued Bennett. \u201cThese are not the actions of someone who simply feels misunderstood; they are the actions of an individual who wields his power to avoid justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett told the New York Times in a piece published Saturday that Cuomo last year made a series<\/a> of off-color comments and asked probing questions about her sex life, leaving her convinced that the divorced father-of-three \u201cwanted to sleep with\u201d her.<\/p>\n

As bipartisan outrage mounted, Cuomo on Sunday issued the prepared statement, dismissing his behavior as \u201cjokes\u201d that could have been construed as \u201cunwanted flirtation\u201d \u2014 while denying any untoward intent and maintaining he never touched anyone inapp<\/a>ropriately.<\/p>\n

\"People
People from local activist groups gathered in front of Governor Andrew Cuomo\u2019s Manhattan office on March 1, 2021 to address their concerns about current policies.<\/figcaption>
James Messerschmidt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, de Blasio jeered his frequent political rival\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor issued a total non-apology earlier and in effect treated sexual harassment as some kind of laughing matter,\u201d Hizzoner told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper. \u201cIt\u2019s not a joke. It\u2019s very, very serious stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I read the account of what Charlotte Bennett went through, I cringed,\u201d continued de Blasio. \u201cHere\u2019s someone who can determine whether she had a job or not, whether she has a career or not, literally suggesting in front of her all sorts of perverse sexual possibilities, and she\u2019s alone in a room with him. Think about how grotesque that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt Cuomo should resign if the allegations are true, de Blasio said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you sexually harassed young women in your employment \u2026 how can anyone look the people in the face after that?\u201d he asked. \u201cIf these allegations are proven, there\u2019s just no way he can govern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Lindsey
Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, penned a Medium piece alleging that Cuomo kissed her on the lips without warning and suggested they pass a flight playing strip<\/a> poker.<\/figcaption>
Facebook<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Bennett spoke out less than a week after another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, 36, penned a Medium piece alleging that Cuomo kissed her on the lips without warning and suggested they pass a flight playing strip poker.<\/p>\n

State Attorney General<\/a> Letitia James received the formal green-light from the Cuomo administration Monday to launch an independent probe into the bombshell allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a responsibility we take lightly as allegations of sexual harassment should always be taken seriously,\u201d said James. \u201cAs the letter states, at the close of the review, the findings will be disclosed in a public report.\u201d<\/p>\n

In accordance with state law, James on Sunday morning requested a \u201creferral\u201d from the governor\u2019s office to investigate, only for Beth Garvey, Cuomo\u2019s special counsel, to try to haggle on the process.<\/p>\n

Garvey suggested that James could work in conjunction with top state appeals Judge Janet DiFiore \u2014 a Cuomo appointee \u2014 to agree on an independent investigator.<\/p>\n

But, facing intense bipartisan pressure to let a truly independent investigation run its course, Garvey caved late Sunday and agreed to grant James the referral.<\/p>\n

And Cuomo\u2019s interactions with women came under further scrutiny on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see you eat the whole sausage,\u201d Cuomo told female reporter Beth Cefalu during a cringe-inducing exchange as they chowed down at the 2016 New York State Fair, video of which resurfaced on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Charlotte
Charlotte Bennett became the second former staffer in a matter of days to accuse the governor of sexual harassment on the job.<\/figcaption>
Twitter<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Cuomo then invited Cefalu to sit at his table and pose for a selfie, where the creepy one-liners kept coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s too much sausage in that picture,\u201d said Cuomo, drawing laughter from others at the table.<\/p>\n

Cefalu, however, clarified Monday that she was not bothered by the exchange.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not pressured\/harassed this is two people enjoying the one event \u2014 the NYS fair \u2014 that gives them a little more freedom to be informal,\u201d she tweeted. \u201cIts really sad it\u2019s being turned into anything more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another now-former member of the New York press corps, however, came forward to say that she left the industry due in part to \u201charassing\u201d behavior from the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Lindsay Nielsen, formerly of Albany-based News<\/a> 10 ABC, posted Sunday on Twitter that the governor\u2019s office responded to critical coverage with \u201cincessant bullying\u201d during her stint with the station from 2012 to 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would make it personal, claiming I have this personal vendetta against the governor, which is absolutely bogus,\u201d Nielsen told The Post on Monday. \u201cAll I was ever trying to do was report the story, report the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Bruce Golding and Natalie Musumeci<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Cuomo’s ‘joking’ sexual harassment defense falls flat” Gov. Andrew Cuomo\u2019s characterization of the sexual harassment he\u2019s accused of inflicting on staffers as just \u201cbeing playful\u201d and making \u201cjokes\u201d fell flat on Monday, with one of his accusers and Mayor Bill de Blasio both slamming the \u201cnon-apology.\u201d Cuomo, 63, offered the dubious defense on Sunday, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/page-one.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[95681,70430,5042,71374],"class_list":["post-191887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-3-1-21","tag-andrew-cuomo","tag-bill-de-blasio","tag-sexual-harassment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}