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After saying on his radio show that he doesn't "like what [he does] professionally” and doesn't "think it’s worth [his] time," CNN host Chris Cuomo walked back his comments and denied having said he's unhappy in his job.
On his SiriusXM show on Monday, Cuomo spoke candidly about his job and how the pandemic — and him personally getting the coronavirus — has shaped his outlook.
“I don’t want to spend my time doing things that I don’t think are valuable enough to me personally,” Cuomo said in audio heard by the New York Post and CBS News. “I don’t value indulging irrationality, hyperpartisanship.”
“I don’t like what I do professionally,” he said. “I don’t think it’s worth my time.”
He also spoke about his frustrations with living life as a public figure.
“I’m basically being perceived as successful in a system that I don’t value,” he continued. “I’m seen as being good at being on TV and advocating for different positions … but I don’t know if I value those things, certainly not as much as I value being able to live my life on my own terms.”
On Tuesday, Cuomo walked back his comments on his radio show, denying he'd disparaged his job and the company he works for.
In a clip that was released of his Tuesday show, Cuomo said he "love[s] the position" he holds.
He also lashed out at the media outlets who reported on his Monday comments, saying they were taken out of context.
"Why is there so much interest in what I said about my frustrations with my profession yesterday?" Cuomo said in the clip. "I have never been in a better position professionally than I am in right now."
But in a longer clip of Tuesday's show heard by the Hollywood Reporter, Cuomo denied ever making the comments to begin with. "It's not true," he said. "I never said it. I never meant it."
Cuomo said that even "before all this," he had recently signed a new long-term contract with CNN.
"I've never been more grateful. I've never been on a better team," he said. "I love where I am. I love the position that I've been given, and I love who I'm doing it with — those are all matters of fact for me."
Cuomo also elaborated on his frustrations of working in the media, which he said were exacerbated by his illness and the current political climate.
"I was talking about having legitimate questions, which I've had all along this administration, let alone with a fever [and] with COVID for two weeks and being pissed off about being sick and rethinking a lot of things on an existential basis all the time," he said.
"It is frustrating to do this job in an environment where people are not interested and open," he said. "It is hard to practice journalism when people are so intent on believing what they want to believe for political advantage. It makes you question, is it worth the effort? Can I make a difference?"