CNN says it completely supports anchor Chris Cuomo after he was seen on video threatening to push a man down some stairs during a confrontation after the man apparently called him "Fredo," in a seeming reference to the "Godfather" movies.
The video appeared Monday on a conservative YouTube channel. Host Brandon Recor told The Washington Post the exchange happened Sunday at a bar in Shelter Island, New York, after a man approached Cuomo for a picture. The man made the video.
It doesn't show the "Fredo" reference but depicts Cuomo's profanity-laced reaction as he characterises the comment as an anti-Italian slur. The man says he thought "Fredo" was Cuomo's name.
CNN spokesman Matt Dornic tweeted that Cuomo "defended himself" after being slurred in what Dornic calls "an orchestrated setup."