CNN’s Chris Cuomo called out after saying he’s ‘Black on the inside’
During the handoff from his show, Cuomo, singing the 'Good Times' theme, made the joke causing cringes.
The Cuomo brothers are having a bad week.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been besieged by sexual misconduct accusations from at least two former female staffers plus three others, not to mention a persisting inquiry into his handling of moving elderly people between nursing homes and hospitals at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
His younger brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, quickly earned criticism online for jokingly declaring Friday that he’s “Black on the inside.”
Chris Cuomo’s comment came during the popular handoff that occurs as the network moves from his show, Cuomo Prime Time, to CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. Cuomo was singing the theme song to the 1970s TV show, Good Times.
Lemon asked him how he knows the words to the song, to which Chris Cuomo replied: “You know, I’m Black on the inside.”
Uh-oh.
The backlash to his comment was swift and severe on Twitter.
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Aisha K. Staggers, managing editor of Sister2Sister magazine, commented: “It’s f**ing offensive. Black isn’t something you can just say you feel you are inside without having to deal with the racism that comes with being physically Black on the outside. This is cultural appropriation.”
“Black is not a costume, I don’t get to be white when I don’t feel like not dealing with racism or racist police or just regular bulls**t Black people deal with,” Staggers wrote. “I can’t even hide at home because I can be killed there in my bed, so understand, there was nothing silly about this.”
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“Chris black on the inside,” someone commented on a tweet of Cuomo’s. “We been knew though.”
The CNN host had a reply: “Said with all respect to reality and our need to fight this amplification of color animus. there is no understanding what it is to live as a black person in America if you are white but it is so important to listen. The majority must change racism.”
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