Andrew Cuomo tells church ‘God’s not finished with me yet,’ blames ‘cancel culture’
Quoting copious amounts of Scripture and declaring “God’s not finished with me yet,” former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned last August after he was accused of sexually harassing several women, told a congregation in Brooklyn Sunday that the allegations were part of a political hit job that exploited “cancel culture” to remove him from office.
In his first public comments since his resignation, Cuomo,whose father Mario Cuomo served as the state’s 52nd governor, spoke from the pulpit of God’s Battalion of Prayer Church. The church is led by Pastor Alfred S. Cockfield.
“My father, God rest his soul, used to say government is an honorable profession but that politics can be a dirty business,” he told the audience. “Now, that is especially true today when this politics out there is so mean and so extreme. When even the Democratic Party chooses to cancel people that they have a disagreement with.”
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The 64-year-old said that his behavior has been consistent in his 40 years in public life. But he noted that he failed to update that behavior with current cultural norms and apologized for that failure.
“Last February, several women raised issues about my behavior. As I said then, and as I say in this holy hall today, my behavior has been the same for 40 years in public life. You have seen me many, many times, and that has been my behavior,” he said.
“But that was actually the problem, because for some people, especially younger people, there’s a new sensitivity. No one ever told me I made them feel uncomfortable. I never sensed that I caused anyone discomfort. I was trying to do the exact opposite, but I’ve been called old-fashioned, out of touch, and I’ve been told my behavior was not politically correct or appropriate. I accept that.”
Cuomo said he “didn’t appreciate how fast their perspective changed.”
“And I should have. No excuses. I am truly, truly sorry,” he continued. “I’ve apologized many times, and I’ve learned a powerful lesson, and I’ve paid a high price for learning that lesson. God isn’t finished with me yet,” he said to applause.
Cuomo also told the church how much he had leaned on God to process what he called “probably the toughest time of my life.”
“I want to thank you for having me here today as we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent. As you probably know, I’ve gone through a difficult period the past few months. I resigned as governor. The press roasted me. My colleagues were ridiculed. My brother was fired. It was ugly,” he detailed. “It was probably the toughest time of my life. And it was the first time that I was glad that my father wasn’t with us anymore, so he didn’t have to see it.”
“I haven’t spoken about it in public yet because I wanted to talk about it here with you because God’s guidance is helping me through,” he said to applause.
The former governor, who held office from 2011 to 2021, revealed how he has gone through a process of moving “from anger to acceptance, from resentment to reconciliation” in a bid to continue fighting.
“Let go, let God. I believe in life. God sends us challenges. Life will knock us down at some point. And then, the question is, what do we do in that moment? Do we get angry? Do we feel sorry for ourselves? Or do we learn from it and get up from the mat. But it is hard. It is very hard. It’s a struggle. It’s a bridge that one needs to cross, and it’s a long bridge,” he said.
“The bridge goes from anger to acceptance, from resentment to reconciliation. I am now working to cross that bridge. And I believe that God has a reason for our path. I pray on it, and the Good Book has offered me guidance. Psalm 46 tells us God is our refuge and therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way.”
Without calling state Attorney General Letitia James by name, Cuomo accused her and her office of politically-motivated “prosecutorial misconduct.”
“The actions against me were prosecutorial misconduct, that is clear. They didn’t act in the interest of justice. The district attorneys proved that. They acted in their own self-interest. They wanted me out because they wanted my job,” Cuomo argued. “We know that was their motivation by their own actions, but they actually used the cancel culture mentality to enable and advance their self-serving political scheme.”
Even though James’ office announced 11 legal violations against Cuomo, he said not one of those violations has been proven. Of the 11 women Cuomo is alleged to have harassed, nine were current or former state employees. A report released by James’ office last August claimed Cuomo’s actions broke state and federal law.
“They wanted to do with politics that which they couldn’t do with the law. They used cancel culture to effectively overturn an election. And that was their greatest arrogance. They didn’t elect me. You did,” Cuomo told congregants.
“If they wanted my job or the Democratic extremists believed I was in their way or if they didn’t like me or if they didn’t like my politics, fine. Defeat me in an election. But that is America. You decide. Who are they to override your choice? What happened to voting rights and democratic elections, our cherished priorities?” he asked.
Responding to Cuomo’s speech on Sunday evening, James denied that the former governor was “railroaded” out of his job.
“Serial sexual harasser Andrew Cuomo won’t even spare a house of worship from his lies,” James said. “Even though multiple independent investigations found his victims to be credible, Cuomo continues to blame everyone but himself. Cuomo wasn’t railroaded; he quit so he wouldn’t be impeached. New Yorkers are ready to move forward from this sick, pathetic man.”
Cuomo argued that “cancel culture” was used to get him out of office and get his brother, Chris Cuomo, fired from his job at CNN. He contends that it “represents a new extremism” and compared such actions to the attitudes of Tea Party conservatives.
“They allow the extreme minority to overpower the reasonable majority. And I’ll tell you this. When the emotion of the mob overcomes the integrity of the justice system, the intelligence of sound policy debate and honest analysis by the press, we are lost. This cancel culture represents a new extremism,” Cuomo said.
“In many ways, the Tea Party founded what we call the cancel culture mentality because the Tea Party was hyper-aggressive, dogmatic and insistent on their rabid ideology. And there was no patience, no compromise, no discussion,” he continued. “The Tea Party alienated many thoughtful Republicans because extremism does that by its very nature.”
He added that cancel culture has become such a force in society that even some members of the press have become afraid to ask questions that challenge political correctness.
“Do you know how many reporters told me they knew the report against me was a fraud? But they were afraid to challenge Me Too claims,” Cuomo said.
He proclaimed that the real reason why his brother was fired from CNN was due to fear of cancel culture, not because he had violated any journalistic rule.
Chris Cuomo was suspended and later fired from CNN after it was revealed he was more involved than he led the network to believe in strategizing with his brother’s political team amid the sexual harassment controversy. Additionally, Chris Cuomo was accused of sexual misconduct, a claim he denied.
“What really happened was giants like CNN and Time Warner and AT&T and big shot billionaires like John Malone and John Stankey, they were in the middle of a merger and they were afraid of the cancel culture mob,” Andrew Cuomo said Sunday. “So they fired Chris, and that’s the truth. And there’ll be a day when they’re going to have to raise their hand and tell the truth and then you will know.”
Although it has been months since his resignation, Cuomo said he is still not “at peace” and doesn’t think he will be at peace until he dies.
“A woman asked me today if I was at peace. Now that is an interesting question. Let me say this. I am not across the bridge yet, but I know that I am blessed and God has been much better to me than I deserve,” he said.
“But on the question, if I’m at peace? No, I am not at peace. But by the way, I don’t want to be at peace either. And by the way, I don’t think you should be at peace either,” he added. “We have too much work to do to be at peace. We can be at peace when they put us in the box and they close the top. We can rest in peace. But right now, we have to rise up, brothers and sisters. Right now, we have to fight the good fight because the struggle continues.”
