Fox News host Sean Hannity doubled down on his tweeted support for Chris Cuomo, saying on his Tuesday night show that the embattled CNN host — whose enraged recorded reaction to being called “Fredo” dominated Tuesday’s news cycle — should not have “apologized” for his actions.
After Cuomo’s outburst went viral, Hannity was one of his staunchest defenders, tweeting that the CNN host had “zero to apologize for” and indeed deserves an apology from the man who approached him.
Cuomo, however, did apologize for his actions via Twitter, saying he “should be better than what I oppose.”
After introducing the issue on Tuesday night’s edition of “Hannity,” the Fox News host brought in contributors Jeffrey Lord and Lisa Boothe to discuss.
WATCH:
“Last night on Twitter I defended Cuomo – he did not start this – because I don’t support harassment of any public figure,” said Hannity. “Especially in front of their children and their family and their wife. No person in this country should be taunted because of their political beliefs or opinions and with that said, Fredo was designed to be an insult.”
“I wonder if this is what the left means when they talk about toxic masculinity,” joked Boothe, bringing up the memes and humor behind the incident while adding that it’s not “cool” for people to come up “and heckle you” when out with family.
“I’ve been through very similar things myself,” said Hannity, adding that he “kind of admired” Cuomo for standing “up for himself.” (RELATED: Chris Cuomo Getting Hit On All Sides For Insisting ‘Fredo’ Is An Ethnic Slur)
Referring to the fact that he knew Cuomo while at CNN, Lord said he “doesn’t deserve this.”
“He’s a good person and I have to say, I have family and friends on Shelter Island,” said Lord. “I know where this place is. You go there to relax, to be with your family and friends, which is what he was doing. This is outrageous kind of stuff that’s done to him and I frankly don’t care whether it’s Chris Cuomo or whether it’s Eric Trump or Ted Cruz. This is totally unacceptable. It clearly unacceptable. And good for Chris for standing up for himself.”
Boothe did add that she thought it was “really lame” of Cuomo to compare “Fredo” to the n-word.