Previously unseen text messages reveal how CNN lobbied the former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on behalf of its parent company Warner Bros. to reopen theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a text sent to Andrew Cuomo in September 2020, CNN’s chief marketing officer at the time, Allison Gollust, appeared to request the governor meet then-Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff. ‘She’s bummed you don’t open theaters in NY, but perhaps you can hear her out,’ Gollust said in the message, which was first reported on by Semafor.
The text messages are indicative of an increasingly well-understood and tight-knit relationship between the Cuomos, CNN executives and Warner Bros at the time. Epitomizing those ties is that Gollust had previously been a communications director to Andrew Cuomo and was later revealed to be having an affair with the CNN boss Jeff Zucker. Those ties helped connect Sarnoff and Andrew Cuomo at a time when movie studios were losing out from shuttered theater revenue. The text message revelation comes just weeks after Warner Bros. Discovery’s current CEO David Zaslav dramatically ousted CNN CEO Chris Licht shortly after a scathing profile in The Atlantic – in which he participated – exposed his shortcomings and likely sealed his fate. The text messages are amid a $125 million lawsuit brought CNN host Chris who is claiming he was wrongly fired in December 2021 over claims he was coaching his brother and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on managing ongoing sexual misconduct allegations.
His termination came after he was accused of using his position to mitigate the damage of sexual misconduct allegations lodged against Andrew Cuomo. Later this month CNN will begin arbitration with the former host over his claim, Semafor reported. The messages are likely to be used by his legal team to make the case that his ties to Andrew were not personal but, in fact, perpetuated by CNN as a whole. Reopening theaters was crucial to Warner at the time, which was suffering financially as some of its big-budget films were failing to generate any box office revenue with theaters closed across the pandemic. Many states such down entertainment venues as they went on lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19. Warner Bros. grossed just over $200 million in the box office in North American in 2020, its lowest in decades and down from more than $1.5 billion in 2019, according to data from The Numbers. Restrictions on theaters also created a commotion for the studio around the release of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film Tenet.
It was originally slated for release in July, but that was shifted in March due to the pandemic. There was speculation Nolan was imposing pressure on how and when the film should release, which was addressed by Sarnoff personally in September during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. ‘On the Tenet front, we also had a finished movie, which we are very proud for people to see,’ she said. ‘Some markets still aren’t open, but it is a marathon and not a sprint.’ On October 17, 2020, weeks after the text message from Gollust, Andrew Cuomo announced that theaters outside of New York City could begin reopening. That move by Cuomo, who was once lauded for his COVID policy, helped open the state from lockdown restrictions.
CNN’s lobbying of Cuomo to potentially open theaters would also have coincided with messaging by the on-air network more broadly for restrictions to remain in place so as to prevent the spread of the virus. Gollust, who is at the center of the controversy, resigned from her CNN position weeks after CNN president Zucker was left in February 2022. Gollust and Zucker’s relationship was reportedly uncovered during an internal probe into alleged inappropriate relationships after Chris Cuomo was fired from the network in December. Her departure came after a third-party investigation into ‘issues associated with Chris Cuomo and former Governor Andrew Cuomo,’ WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said in a statement at the time. The investigation – ‘based on interviews of more than 40 individuals and a review of over 100,000 texts and emails’ – concluded that Gollust, Zucker and Chris Cuomo violated company policies, Kilar said at the time.
Following Gollust’s resignation, Chris Cuomo turned to CNN and Warner for answers. ‘It is clear this was never about an undisclosed relationship. As Mr. Cuomo has stated previously, Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust were not only entirely aware but fully supportive of what he was doing to help his brother,’ his office told the Wall Street Journal. The still open question is when Warner Media is going to release the results of its investigation and explain its supposed basis for terminating Mr. Cuomo.’ Chris Cuomo’s downfall came less than a week after the New York Attorney General’s Office released transcripts and exhibits showing that the TV host had played a more intimate role in his older brother’s political affairs than initially thought by the network and the public. Notably, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation uncovered a never-before-seen trove of texts from Cuomo to his brother’s advisers briefing them on how to deal with the sexual misconduct allegations.
The Attorney General’s office alleged that Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women, spurring him to resign from his post in August to avoid a likely impeachment trial. On the day his brother resigned, August 24, Cuomo told viewers of his popular primetime program, Cuomo Prime Time, that the scandal and ensuing situation was ‘unlike anything I could have imagined.’ On the air, Cuomo attested that he never reported on the sexual harassment scandal or tried to interfere in CNN’s coverage of the story. Instead, the anchor asserted that he had ‘tried to be there for my brother’ – and nothing more. ‘I’m not an adviser. I’m a brother. I wasn’t in control of anything. I was there to listen and offer my take,’ he said at the time. In a statement announcing Cuomo’s suspension in December, CNN said the Attorney General’s newly released findings ‘shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s defense.’ After his dismissal, Chris Cuomo sued the network. Chris Cuomo and his lawyers have publicly claimed that not only did CNN’s highest executives know of the assistance he was providing his brother, but they also actively assisted the Governor themselves. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12186305/Text-messages-reveal-CNN-lobbied-ousted-NY-Gov-Andrew-Cuomo-Covid-restrictions.html?ito=msngallery
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