Andrew Cuomo has been branded a creep after a video clip emerged online showing him at the 2016 New York State Fair. In the video, the New York governor tells a female correspondent, Beth Cefalu, to eat an entire sausage.
"I want to see you eat the whole sausage", Cuomo told the reporter, who filmed the conversation.
"I don't know if I should eat the whole sausage in front of you, but I'm definitely going to eat it",Cefalu responded.
just thinking back to that time NY Governor Andrew Cuomo hounded a local news reporter to "eat the whole sausage" pic.twitter.com/EyNxFavOyG
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 28, 2021
The governor then instructs his aide to bring a hotdog and invites the reporter to the table. Cefalu agrees and even sits next to the official. She holds up a plate to take a selfie with Cuomo, who said:
"There's too much sausage in that picture".
After that, the two joke about how hard it is to eat on camera, with Cuomo quipping that there’s a special course on “eating on camera” for people who run for office.
The video has poured fuel on the fire as the New York governor has recently been accused of sexual harassment.
Netizens called his behaviour inappropriate, with some suggesting that he is a predator.
With his daughter right there? Wtf? Guy’s creepy af.
— JohnniesFTW (@FTWJohnnies) March 1, 2021
Remember Boylan's story when he showed her a cigar case he said Bill Clinton gave him. There's are all kinds of sexual innuendo with Bill Clinton, cigars, and Monica Lewinsky. Cuomo is a well practiced predator.
— AnnAnne 🌍⏳😷 THERE'S NO LEFT WITHOUT LABOR (@AnnAnne700) February 28, 2021
However, many users deemed that there was nothing wrong with the actions of the official.
Sometimes a sausage is just a sausage. I don't see any foul play here. You can clearly hear the convo at the beginning, where he comments her filming him eating a sandwich and jokingly challenges her to do the same.
— Faunia (@Faunia4Prez) February 28, 2021
She was standing there awkwardly taping him while he was trying to eat. Is it possible that he was passive aggressively showing her how much it sucks to be videotaped while eating? It’s not like he sat there gawking at her while she ate it or making perverted jokes.
— Schatzi1021 (@Jennife83984354) March 1, 2021
Cefalu told Fox News that Cuomo’s comments had nothing to do with sexual harassment and that she didn’t feel pressured to eat the sandwich.
"The governor was trying to be nice and got me some food. It’s probably the one day of year or story of the year he and I can be a little informal and that’s what this was nothing more. He did not pressure me - he was not hitting on me nor did I feel harassed in anyway", she told Fox News.
What Are the Accusations?
In an essay published last week, former aide Lindsey Boylan described Cuomo’s alleged inappropriate actions and comments. Boylan, who worked in New York’s economic development agency for several years, claimed the governor had invited her to play strip poker when they were flying on his private jet and touched her legs, arms, and lower back without her consent. The 36-year-old said she decided to resign after Cuomo purportedly kissed her on the lips in 2018.
Several days after Boylan, another ex-aide of the governor came forward and claimed she had been sexually harassed.
Charlotte Bennett, 25, said Cuomo had asked her numerous questions about her private life, including whether she believes age can make a difference in romantic relationships. Bennett also claimed the governor, who is 63, told her that he is open to dating women in their 20s and asked whether she "had ever been with an older man". Bennett says these remarks hinted at a sexual relationship.
"I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared and was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job", she said.
Bennett said she informed Cuomo’s chief of staff about her interaction with the governor and was transferred to another job less than a week later. Asked why she did not seek a formal investigation, Bennett said she decided to move on.
Cuomo denied making any inappropriate actions in either of the cases and ordered an independent inquiry into the allegations made against him.
"I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate. The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported", the governor said in a statement.
Andrew Cuomo also said he often jokes with his employees in an attempt to add levity and banter to "serious business". "I do it in public and in private. You have seen me do it at briefings hundreds of times", he said.
At the same time, he admitted that his words and actions may have been interpreted as "an unwanted flirtation".
