CNN Disputes Trump’s Chris Cuomo Jab: ‘Surely You Have More Important Issues Than TV Ratings’

The president waded into the cable news ratings fray Tuesday as the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality protests continued around the country

redditor trump vs cnn
Getty Images

CNN’s public relations department responded to a tweet from President Donald Trump Tuesday and suggested he had “more important issues” to contend with than taking jabs at the success of the network’s primetime hosts.

“Yesterday was a bad day for the Cuomo Brothers. New York was lost to the looters, thugs, Radical Left, and all others forms of Lowlife & Scum. The Governor refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard. NYC was ripped to pieces. Likewise, Fredo’s ratings are down 50%!” the president declared on Twitter, referring to CNN primetime anchor Chris Cuomo as “Fredo.”

Surely you have more important issues than TV ratings to address. But since you’ve made it a priority, we’ll correct the record,” came the reply from CNN’s PR shop. “@ChrisCuomo has had his highest ratings in history for the past two months.”

Monthly Nielsen research ratings were released Tuesday, though the president’s statistic more closely matched one from a Daily Mail piece released over the weekend. Rather than monthly ratings, the Mail compared Cuomo’s peak with the previous week, reporting “Cuomo Prime Time” ratings plummeted 49% since he announced his coronavirus diagnosis in March.

According to Tuesday’s new monthly ratings report from CNN, the network had its most-watched May ever in total-day and primetime viewership. “Cuomo Prime Time” was CNN’s top-rated program for the month among total viewers, bringing in an average of 1,948,000. In the advertiser-coveted age demographic of viewers 25-to-54, it saw an average of 513,000.

Meanwhile, Trump-favored network Fox News hit some milestones, too, logging its 47th consecutive month in the top spot across all of cable in total-day viewership and 221st consecutive month as the top-rated cable news network in total viewers across both total-day and primetime.

Comments