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Cuomo was asked on WAMC radio on Tuesday, Oct. 15 to discuss the controversy regarding Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which was celebrated at the same time as Columbus Day.
The conversation took a turn to a weekend New York Times opinion piece that spoke of the treatment of Italian Americans in the past. It was then that he used the racial slur.“They used an expression that southern Italians were called, I believe they were saying southern Italians, Sicilians — I’m half Sicilian — were called, quote-unquote and pardon my language, but I’m just quoting the Times: ‘n—r wops.’ N-word wops, as a derogatory comment,” Cuomo said, enunciating. “When I said that ‘wop’ was a derogatory comment, that was when the Times Union told me, no, you should look in Wikipedia, ‘wop’ really meant a dandy.”
Cuomo addressed the incident on Sunday for the first time at Albany International Airport.
“That was the point of the article, and I directly quoted the New York Times,” the governor said. “You should ask the New York Times if they think it was appropriate.
Cuomo’s gaffe quickly went viral on social media, and the backlash was swift and decisive, crushing the longtime New York governor.
The governor’s slip came days after his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo apologized on-air for joking about using female pronouns at a Democratic presidential candidates' town hall on LGBTQ rights with California Sen. Kamala Harris.
“PLEASE READ: When Sen Harris said her pronouns were she, her, and her's, I said mine too. I should not have. I apologize,” Chris Cuomo posted on Twitter. “I am an ally of the LGBTQ community, and I am sorry because I am committed to helping us achieve equality. Thank you for watching our town-hall.”
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