Former CNN contributor, Angela Rye, says Chris Cuomo put her through an “embarrassing and humiliating” experience that ultimately resulted in her firing.
Angela Rye — who appeared regularly as a guest on the former CNN anchor’s “Cuomo Prime Time” — claims she was “stunned” when Cuomo responded to a bikini-clad photo she posted on New Year’s Day 2021 by saying, “Happy New Year tinsel crotch.”
Rye spoke about the three-year-old exchange on her new podcast “Native Land Pod” with co-hosts Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum on iHeart Radio on Friday, Jan. 12. She detailed the devastating after-effects of calling Cuomo out for his egregious comments and why she believes it led to her eventual firing.
“It all began on New Year’s Day [2021] when I posted a picture of myself looking forward to the New Year in a gold sequin bikini on Instagram,” she read on the podcast before breaking out in tears.
“Cuomo screenshot the image and said, ‘Happy New Year, tinsel crotch.’ Stunned, I read and reread the message a dozen times, trying to understand if I somehow brought this on myself. I teared up, like now, and then the tears flowed. I felt like the safest place I had on a show on CNN had been compromised,” Rye continued. A few hours later, Rye says that Cuomo texted her, “Hello,” and the following day, called to discuss a prominent role for her as a ‘regular’ in which she would ‘check the left.’
Rye said she had her doubts about the “genuine nature of this idea” because “Cuomo came up with this particular segment idea after [the] text exchange that went woefully wrong.”
She said she didn’t respond to his offer about the segment right away, but got back to him about a week later, asking “if he still wanted to discuss his work idea despite him mentioning tinsel bikini and tinsel bottom along the way.”
Then, she said, on Janurary 21, 2021, the network called to tell her it wasn’t renewing her contract.
“I knew it was a lie, and it was confirmed when two black women were hired for half my contributor rate right after,” she claims