Instead of asking his brother about coronavirus deaths in New York nursing homes, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo spent time during a one-on-one interview Wednesday with Gov. Andrew Cuomo joking about the size of the swab used to test the New York governor for coronavirus.
Their joking banter outraged Twitter users who slammed the anchor for not addressing the nursing-home controversy with his brother.
During the interview, nursing homes were brought up once. Gov. Cuomo touted the state's increased coronavirus testing capabilities and listed nursing homes and prisons among the sites where they have been administered, Fox News reports.
Gov. Cuomo recently reversed a controversial March 25 order, which forced nursing homes to accept patients who tested positive for coronavirus.
On May 11, he signed an order that stopped hospitals from sending infected patients back to nursing homes and ramped up testing for staff.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., has been pushing for an investigation into the March directive.
"Today I joined my [New York GOP] colleagues in the House to call for a federal investigation of Cuomo's failed nursing home policies," Stefanik tweeted Friday. "NOW they admit they unethically changed the way they report nursing home deaths. An INEXCUSABLE tragedy for NY -- NEED ANSWERS.”
CNN Prime Time viewers were not given any information on the nursing home controversy.
The CNN anchor played a clip of the governor taking a coronavirus test where a nurse placed a cotton swab up his nostril and joked about the size of his sibling’s nose, with over-sized props.
"Is it true that this was the swab that the nurse was actually using on you?" the primetime host asked his brother while holding an overly sized cotton swab. The CNN host then quickly followed by presenting him an even larger cotton swab, asking his brother if that was the one the nurse used on him.
“Gov. Cuomo *forced* COVID patients into nursing homes with NY’s most vulnerable population. This order killed tens of thousands,” Turning Point USA chief creative officer Benny Johnson tweeted. “They giggle about it. Cuomo family is a disgrace.”
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