He acted more like Sonny now Big Brother Andy will have to keep him off the causeway for a while.
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In the movie, "The Godfather 2", remember the scene where Fredo argues that he's smart, that he can do things, that he was stepped over.
That's what this Chris Cuomo sounds like.
In fact the real Fredo in that clan is Andrew our fool governor and the guy who caused the housing and banking crises of the last decade when he headed HUD, and who argues for zero-emissions power generation when, at the same time, he's shutting down Indian Point a zero-emissions power plant which supplies major quantities of electricity to New York City and Westchester.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2008/08/05/andrew-cuomo-and-fannie-and-freddie/
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@MIKEinNYC - Chris Cuomo (I guess at least last week) is a beloved TV star, at least to the people nationwide who watched his show almost every night. He had influence that comes with celebrity, and that's not nothing - but he didn't have power to change law. I don't know that one path is better than the other as a life lived or being lived. They're just different.
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Here's the big problem with the position that "Fredo" is an ethnic slur: it's the name of a character who exists only in a work of fiction, a book and a movie.
Ethnics slurs come from painful real life conflicts, not from forms of entertainment. Trying to equate one to the other for the sake of outraged-righteousness-makes-right does draw into some focus the measure of a person's reasoning on sensitive matters.
I have never heard “Fredo” used outside of “The Godfather,” but any nickname said in a derogatory or insulting manner — especially ones with ethnic connotations — should not be tolerated. Could Cuomo have handled it differently? Sure. But keep in mind that he was coming off a long stint of reporting from El Paso, which would fray anyone’s nerves and patience. The man let his temper get the best of him, but who hasn’t been in such a position at some time in their life?
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Mario Cuomo denied the power (or was it the existence?) of the Mafia, so...
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“The name is tantamount to “the N-word” for Italian-Americans, he said.”
No. No it’s not.
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Fredo in the Godfather was a bit mentally handicapped because he was very very sick as an infant, as the movie depicts.
I think that the real Fredo in politics has to be Eric Trump. He really does look like, as we Italians used to say, a "stunato", that is to say someone who looks mentally "stunned".
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Being called the name of a fictional character is not a slur. There are ethnic slurs that have been used against Italians i.e. WOP and Guinea, but neither are even close to the equivalent of the n-word.
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His equating being called Fredo with an African American being called the n-word was nonsensical and I was insulted. The n word stings me deeply and has been used as a term of hurt for millions of people over hundreds of years. Cuomo had the advantage of being able to duck it up and move on. I do not.
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I’m trying to figure out how catholic schools can be closing when public schools are so overcrowded and have lines down the block to register each year?
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Catholic schools are not free and some people don't want to educate their children in a religious setting.
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@Mary Maybe because public schools hire licensed teachers while Catholic schools skimp on qualifications.
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Bullying became mainstream. Civility no more!
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No one should be ambushed in public. Cuomo has the right to defend himself. But it’s absurd to say that Fredo is a slur to Italians.
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@Jon
I'm Italian and I agree.
If it's gotten to the point where people feel they have a duty to take offense over every real or imagined insult, however minor, then we have become the nation of thin-skinned snowflakes that conservatives suspect.
I don't know if the condition is better corrected by a psychologist or a dermatologist, but, come on. Sticks and stones, people...
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" better corrected by a psychologist or a dermatologist"
LOL, and with health care so in the news, recalling what Cloris Leachman's character Phyllis, who was the wife of a dermatologist, noted about medical spending: "Mary, when people need brain surgery, no matter how trivial, somehow they find the money. But if they get a rash, they just scratch until times get better."
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@bijom, it's not about being "thin-skinned snowflakes" - it's about the constant onslaught of ethnic slurs, insults, and slights that many people experience day after day all their lives.
Perhaps you haven't been a particular target of this. But the Cuomos have - for decades. And this was a deliberate provocation.
And btw, the thinnest-skinned snowflakes are conservatives - Trump being a prime example. He makes angry, threatening comments every day - and incites people at his rallies.
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I suspect the encounter was contrived for propaganda by the man (unnamed) himself. The video was ready to roll. He appeared so calm and composed while Cuomo was ranting and cussing, to show the marked contrast. Sad and so disappointing to see akin to a Jekyll and Hyde transformation.
As Cuomo already said, he shouldn’t have taken the bait and exercised better judgment....too late for regrets as it always happens in life. But in the current 24/7 blitzkrieg of news cycle, this, too, shall pass.
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I just returned from Dublin. There I found the over the top decorated donut craze NY experienced a few years ago. Every street had at least one shop with donuts decorated as cats, pigs, leprechauns. And occasionally a shop with really tasty fresh versions. On a day trip to Kilkenny I also found this phenomenon on a smaller scale.
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In the past week the NYT ran an article titled, “Italy’s biggest Economic Problem? It’s Still Italy.” My first reaction was that if you substituted the name of certain troubled USA cities, or certain countries for Italy, a lot of people would have had a problem. Racism shouldn’t be OK anywhere
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Cuomo was out of control and acted like a made man who had been spat on.
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@Brewster Millions He HAD been spat on, that's the problem. His father was extremely sensitive to the stereotyping of Italian Americans as gangsters and Mafioso, and while we might laugh at that today, it was no joke at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century, and resulting in the largest mass lynching in American history -- one of those little known stories, like the Osage Indian murders, long overdue for reexamination. I find that many Italian Americans with right wing leanings have little to no appreciation for the history of Italians in America and little understanding of just how badly they were treated by the White establishment. A great reference is Elmer Rice's Counsellor at Law (book, play, and film) about partners (one Jew and one Italian) in a law firm who take on the Park Avenue establishment in the 1920s. It's a shame Cuomo lost his temper, but by 2019, should anyone still be referring to another with an ethnic, religious, or racial slur?
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I am Italian. My parents were born in Italy. I read, write and speak Italian. I loved Mario Cuomo and looked up to him as a mentor and leader who we were proud of. But, as I often say, Italians are the only minority that is openly stereotyped in the media. Italians are portrayed as mobsters, loud mouths and idiots in movies, on tv and even commercials. Even the NTY over the past 100 years have treated Italians with less than dignity. Considering the USA is named after an Italian, it’s perplexing and hurtful to constantly see us depicted as mobsters. Should I list the achievements of Italians throughout history?
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@Alone
The problem is that Italian-Americans like Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather, and even David Chase (father's original name, "DeCesare"), the creator of The Sopranos, created compelling stories that partly glamorized the Mafia and many others have followed suit. Of course, Italians have made many positive contributions, but this is America, supposedly romantic stories about bad guys are going to dominate the imagination of certain people.
Our country should be named after a Viking, or better yet, after the indigenous people who lived here first.
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@Alone
Thank you. My father, who fit your description of yourself, often said the same thing about the persistent stereotyping of Italians. I see it even in shows that I like and consider otherwise intelligent, such as the Simpsons. That being said, I do not think that “Fredo” is the equivalent of the n-word. I also doubt that Trump understood the reference.
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Chris Cuomo should have turned it to a positive. When they guy called him Fredo, Cuomo should have said that John Canaletto played Fredo and although Cazale only appeared in five films, they were all nominated for best picture. He was an excellent performer. That would quiet the insulter and take the wind out of his sails.
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Good for Chris Cuomo. He has a spine and he showed it. The Democratic party could learn a lesson from this video, may I suggest it becomes a training video for all of us. It's time for the kiddy gloves to come off, the other side is playing tackle football and we're still playing flag football.
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