With the liberal media still largely ignoring the sexual harassment allegation made against Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) by former aide Lindsey Boylan, FNC host Tucker Carlson and our friend Steve Krakauer took the press to task on Tuesday for showing no curiosity about evaluating Boylan’s story due to the media’s love affair with the scandal-ridden governor.
Carlson began by noting Cuomo’s recent Emmy Award as a way of quipping that the governor’s long “had a natural knack for something the acting coach is referred to as dramatic irony,” with just one example being how he condemned President Trump in 2018 for, in Carlson’s words, “not taking sexual harassment seriously enough.”
That served as a segue into Boylan’s Sunday Twitter thread revealing Cuomo “sexually harassed me for years” and, to make matters even worse, “[m]any saw it, and watched.”
“So, know what happened next. Nothing happened next, the network newscasters Sunday night on Monday morning did not cover that. We cannot find any evidence that CNN or NBC, purported news networks, mentioned it did it all. ABC News gave it just a brief mention during a local cut-in today,” Carlson added.
Along with noting that there’s a “new standard,” Carlson read the asinine tweet from USA Today that dismissed Boylan’s assertion due to a lack of “validating evidence.”
Carlson then posed this rhetorical question before bringing Krakauer on board: “The question is, how long has it been a standard, and to whom else does it apply?”
Krakauer emphasized an earlier point of Carlson’s that Boylan has yet to produce direct evidence, but added that “the real issue here” is the “hypocritical, double standard” and lack of aggressiveness as “[w]e have not seen a lot of curiosity about this story so far about media darling Governor Andrew Cuomo” while having reserved no “precaution...when it comes to stories like Brett Kavanaugh.”
With the time remaining, Carlson noted the importance of the media getting to the bottom of Boylan’s story due to rumors of Cuomo’s possible appointment to a key Biden administration post (click “expand”):
CARLSON: I mean, really quick, it is not like there is a lack of news story — worthiness. Just in the last week, Cuomo has been mentioned in many news reports as a contender for attorney general of the United States, so how can you ignore it?
KRAKAUER: Yeah, well, it seems like that is — I do wonder if this is sort of preempting that potential news story there. I do think, obviously, it's a sticky situation. I mean, the governor's brother is hosting a show on CNN —
CARLSON: Tucker: Oh.
KRAKAUER: — in prime time right now, so it gets complicated, as we saw both during the COVID crisis that’s continued and the way he was covered there, and certainly with this or any other story that may emerge. I think the media should continue digging on it. I think they are right to exercise caution, but I really hope they learn from this instance and exercise that sort of caution when it’s not the Democratic mayor — Democratic governor of New York.
CARLSON: Eh, one correction, hosting a show is not quite right. Take a 42 minute break from sculpting his lats, I think, is the more correct way to describe it.
To see the relevant FNC transcript from December 15, click “expand.”
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
December 15, 2020
8:55 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: So, even before the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo had won an Emmy, he had a natural knack for something the acting coach is referred to as dramatic irony. For example, here he was just two years ago condemning the sitting president for not taking sexual harassment seriously enough.
GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): He turned a blind eye to the #metoo movement, which was a moment of a social revolution, with thousands of women took the courage and put themselves out there, and talked about things that embarrass them, that make them feel bad about themselves. [SCREEN WIPE] And all they got was a deaf ear from president trump and Washington, but New York passed a stronger sexual harassment law in the United States of America.
CARLSON: The #Metoo movement was a social revolution. But like all revolutions, some were exempt from its requirements. On Sunday, something very interesting happened in the city with the strongest sexual harassment laws in the United States of America. In that very city, a former aide to the man you just saw — Andrew Cuomo — the aide called Lindsey Boylan, accused Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment in some detail. She put it on Twitter. Everyone saw it, so you know what happened next. Nothing happened next, the network newscasters Sunday night on Monday morning did not cover that. We cannot find any evidence that CNN or NBC, purported news networks, mentioned it did it all. ABC News gave it just a brief mention during a local cut-in today. And that newsletter you find littered around the lobbies of hotels in America, USA Today, explained that media back out in tweets. Just in case you’re wondering, here it is: "The aide has not yet provided any validating evidence for the allegations or specified details on the harassment.” So, that’s the new standard, at least when it applies to Andrew Cuomo. The question is, how long has it been a standard, and to whom else does it apply? Steve Krakauer is the founder and editor of the Fourth Watch podcast. He joins us tonight. So, I kind of get this, Steve Krakauer. She doesn’t have photographic evidence, therefore only reports on it. How long has this been the standard?
STEVE KRAKAUER: Well, yeah, this is a clear — that's the real issue here, the hypocritical, double standard. You want a media that’s curious, that's aggressive, and certainly, so far, as you mentioned, nothing from CNN, nothing from MSNBC, nothing from the broadcast networks for the most part. We have not seen a lot of curiosity about this story so far about media darling Governor Andrew Cuomo, but I would say it's actually the sort of hypocritical corrective, because yeah, you know, though she has — she’s tweeted a few things and she has talked about it, and we want a press that’s going to go after it, but she has turned down an interview from every press outlet so far. She has, you know, not presented any corroboration. Okay, so let's see this story out. The problem, though, is that it is not the editorial standard — the sort of a real nice, journalistic, editorial, you know, precaution that is taken when it comes to stories like Brett Kavanaugh, for example, who, you know, with the instance that there was even an iota of an allegation, it becomes this national story,
CARLSON: Of course.
KRAKAUER: — without any real — of the same sort of corroboration they were looking for. So that is the problem. The pendulum’s swinging now, maybe in the right direction, but the standard is not evenly applied.
CARLSON: I mean, really quick, it is not like there is a lack of news story — worthiness. Just in the last week, Cuomo has been mentioned in many news reports as a contender for attorney general of the United States, so how can you ignore it?
KRAKAUER: Yeah, well, it seems like that is — I do wonder if this is sort of preempting that potential news story there. I do think, obviously, it's a sticky situation. I mean, the governor's brother is hosting a show on CNN —
CARLSON: Tucker: Oh.
KRAKAUER: — in prime time right now, so it gets complicated, as we saw both during the COVID crisis that’s continued and the way he was covered there, and certainly with this or any other story that may emerge. I think the media should continue digging on it. I think they are right to exercise caution, but I really hope they learn from this instance and exercise that sort of caution when it’s not the Democratic mayor — Democratic governor of New York.
CARLSON: Eh, one correction, hosting a show is not quite right. Take a 42 minute break from sculpting his lats, I think, is the more correct way to describe it.
