Andrew Cuomo said in a 2013 tweet that there should be 'zero tolerance' for sexual harassment. He's now accused of harassing 11 women.

Advertisement
Andrew Cuomo said in a 2013 tweet that there should be 'zero tolerance' for sexual harassment. He's now accused of harassing 11 women.
New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference on September 08, 2020 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a tweet that there should be a "zero tolerance policy" for sexual harassment.
  • "There should be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual harassment & must send a clear message that this behavior is not tolerated," he wrote in 2013.
  • The tweet resurfaced on Tuesday after a New York AG investigation found he had sexually harassed 11 women.
Advertisement

An old tweet by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo saying there should be a "zero tolerance policy" for sexual harassment resurfaced on Tuesday after an investigation by independent investigators working under the auspices of New York State Attorney General Tish James found he had harassed multiple women.

"There should be a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual harassment & must send a clear message that this behavior is not tolerated," he said in the 2013 tweet.

James released a 165-page report on Tuesday concluding that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women, including current and former government workers, in violation of federal and New York state law.

The report corroborates many allegations of harassment and inappropriate behavior lodged in the public sphere by women who previously worked in his administration and other members of the public, who accused Cuomo of abusing his power to make sexual advances toward them.

Many of Cuomo's accusers and others have highlighted what they cast as Cuomo's hypocrisy in promoting women's rights issues, like pushing for stronger state laws to crack down on sexual harassment in the workplace, in public while treating female employees inappropriately and sexually harassing them behind closed doors.

Advertisement

"2017 brought a long overdue reckoning where the pervasive poison of workplace sexual harassment was exposed by brave women and men who said this ends now," Cuomo tweeted again in January 2018, referring to the fallout of the #MeToo movement.

He added: "Our challenge in government is to turn society's revulsion into reform. There must be zero tolerance for sexual harassment in any workplace, and we can and will end the secrecy and coercive practices that have enabled harassment for far too long."

Cuomo also touted in April that New York had "just put into place the strongest anti-sexual harassment protections in the nation, ending once and for all the secrecy and coercive practices that have enabled this unacceptable behavior for far too long."

{{}}