A New York reporter said Monday she was not “harassed” by Governor Andrew Cuomo after a video of him telling her to “eat the whole sausage” at a state fair in 2016 resurfaced over the weekend.
In the clip, reporter Beth Cefalu is shown taking a selfie with the governor and her plate. Cuomo tells her, “I want to see you eat the whole sausage,” and then says, “There’s too much sausage in that picture.”
The video, posted by Matt Binder on Sunday, spawned criticism and sparked debate about whether the governor’s behavior was really that terrible.
Cefalu, for her part, doesn’t seem to think it was.
“I was not pressured/harassed,” she tweeted on Monday. “This is two people enjoying the one event – the NYS fair – that gives them a little more freedom to be informal. Its really sad it’s being turned into anything more.”
The recirculation of the video came after a second Cuomo aide accused him of sexual harassment over the weekend. On Saturday, the New York Times published the account of former aide Charlotte Bennett, who said Cuomo asked her questions about her sex life. The accusations followed ones from another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, who accused the governor of unwanted touching and making inappropriate comments.
A representative for Cuomo’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
just thinking back to that time NY Governor Andrew Cuomo hounded a local news reporter to "eat the whole sausage" pic.twitter.com/EyNxFavOyG
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) February 28, 2021
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