Chris Cuomo Returning To Cable News After CNN Ouster

Chris Cuomo has announced he’ll return to hosting a prime-time cable news show at the much smaller NewsNation network this fall after he was dismissed from CNN last year.

The announcement came at the end of an interview with Dan Abrams on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live.” The hourlong interview included discussions about his ouster from CNN after he was found to have inappropriately helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), respond to multiple sexual harassment allegations.

NewsNation, launched in September 2020 by Nexstar Media Group, reaches a much smaller audience than CNN and other major cable news networks. This year, NewsNation has averaged 50,000 viewers in prime time, compared with 2.4 million for Fox News, 1.2 million for MSNBC and 762,000 for CNN, according to Nielsen data.

“I had decided that I can’t go back to what people see as the big game. I don’t think I can make a difference there. I think we need insurgent media. We need outlets that aren’t fringe and just trying to fill their pockets,” Cuomo told Abrams on Tuesday. “I’m going to go where the news is, and I’m going to try very hard to be fair, and I want to do it here.”

Cuomo filed a lawsuit against CNN and its parent company in March demanding $125 million in arbitration, saying he was wrongly terminated and had since suffered serious blows to his reputation.