Late-night hosts helped make Andrew Cuomo ‘America’s Governor.’ They should urge him to step down.

Paste Magazine

"Alex Pareene proposed in The New Republic last month that there are two Andrew Cuomos," says Seth Simons of the embattled New York governor. "There’s Andrew Cuomo the newspaper character, whose corrupt and belligerent leadership has been the subject of extensive coverage for almost his entire time in office. Then there’s Andrew Cuomo the television character, a gruff but charming figure who has the grit and know-how to get things done in a crisis. Since television is ill-equipped to capture the mundanity and complexity of Cuomo’s corruption, news consumers familiar with the latter Cuomo—that is, most news consumers—are only now meeting the newspaper Cuomo, who bullies lawmakers and (allegedly) molests his female aides. Cuomo was able to craft his image as America’s Governor thanks in no small part to late night comedy. He was a regular fixture on the talk show circuit all spring and well into the summer, the self-serving nature of his appearances clear from the start. In April, self-identified 'Cuomosexual' Trevor Noah lauded Cuomo’s honesty and asked about the personal toll of being responsible for so many lives. ('You’re not responsible for the deaths, but you’re responsible for the lives of the people and keeping everybody safe.') In May, Seth Meyers gave him a platform to criticize Congress’s corporate bailout and riff about his brother. Stephen Colbert—who previously said Cuomo was 'doing a good job' in a segment about the governor’s nipple piercings—asked him softball questions about his father and his brother. Jimmy Fallon, whose writers were later dispatched to 'make Cuomo cool,' offered the most slavering performance of them all: 'Right out of the gate, you were there for us,' he said in a May interview. 'I can’t thank you enough. The word 'Cuomo' just makes people happy now. It’s just the actual word now, it’s going to be put in the dictionary. It makes people happy. I thank you. You make me sleep better at night. I look forward to hearing you talk. And thank you for being honest with us and giving us the facts, and being a true leader at this moment.'" While late-night hosts have tackled Cuomo's recent sexual misconduct controversy, only Samantha Bee -- who once dubbed him "America’s Dad" -- has come closest to calling for his resignation. "They may not have created this monster," says Simons, "but they did help turn him into a hero, and they did so well after he was responsible for widespread death and suffering."