Fox Hires Cuomo Aide Amid Nursing Home Scandal Backlash
Fox News hires ex-Cuomo aide linked to nursing home death cover-up, sparking public outrage.
2 min read
A former top aide to Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo made her debut as a Fox News contributor Monday, but the move immediately drew sharp criticism over her role in New York’s coronavirus nursing home scandal.
Fox News announced the hiring of Melissa DeRosa, who helped the Cuomo administration conceal the true number of nursing home deaths during the pandemic, in late September. The network’s Outnumbered show posted a picture of DeRosa celebrating her first day, but the post quickly drew backlash on X.
Today on Outnumbered: Melissa DeRosa, Fox News Contributor. Welcome to couch, @melissadderosa! https://t.co/ctWgmDor0F
“How disgraceful. Slap in the face to the beloved @JaniceDean . Your audience will never accept this,” wrote Breanna Morello, an independent conservative journalist. Morello referenced former Fox News weathercaster Janice Dean, whose husband’s parents died of coronavirus in New York’s long-term care facilities. Dean has long criticized the Cuomo administration’s handling of the pandemic and its subsequent nursing home scandal.
“And this is why I won’t be watching. Shame on you for pretending this is okay,” another user replied.
Yet another user said that DeRosa has a “black heart and zero credibility.”
“No matter how many times y’all interview her and drag her out to help host shows, it will never work!” she wrote.
“One of the reasons why myself and a lot of other people no longer watch Fox,” one user replied, while another wrote, “Democrat Strategist. Fox Contributor. Covid coverup. What could go wrong?”
In June, Dean parted ways with Fox News amid health complications from a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. About a month later, however, she alleged that the network had tried to muzzle her coverage of Cuomo’s nursing home scandal.
“Someday I’ll tell you all the story of how I was banned to talk about Andrew Cuomo after I spent years speaking out about what he did to seniors during COVID,” she shared in a X post July 21.
“I felt very betrayed during this time, and admittedly I’m still bitter,” she added in a second post. “When you share something so personal to the world, and are encouraged to talk about it for years, and then one day be told you can’t, that hurt does not just magically go away.”
DeRosa admitted on a conference call with Democratic legislators in 2021 that the Cuomo administration had concealed the true figure of nursing home deaths. She explained they worried the scandal would be politicized by then-President Donald Trump, who might direct the Department of Justice to launch an investigation.
Source: Daily Caller
