(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Former CNN commentator Angela Rye recently accused her then-colleague Chris Cuomo of calling her “tinsel crotch” in a text message while they worked together, reportedly saying that the incident led to her ouster at the news network.
Rye reportedly made the accusation on the first episode of her new podcast, “Native Land Pod.”
Rye reportedly said that CNN decided not to renew her contract in January 2021, ostensibly because the network was shifting its focus from politics to COVID. But reportedly called that excuse a “lie” since “two Black women were hired for half my current contributor rate right after,” according to Fox News’s report on her podcast.
“It all began on New Year’s Day when I posted a picture of myself looking forward to the new year in a gold-sequined bikini on Instagram. Cuomo screenshot the image and said, ‘Happy New Year, tinsel crotch,’” Rye reportedly said.
“Stunned, I read and reread the message a dozen times, trying to understand. If I somehow brought this on myself since whatever you post on social is fair game, right? I teared up… I felt like the safest place I had on a show on CNN had been compromised.”
Cuomo allegedly texted Rye a few hours later the next day to “discuss work,” but she delayed responding to him, she said. When she did, she reportedly asked if he “still wanted to discuss his work idea despite him mentioning tinsel bikini and tinsel bottom along the way.”
Rye then blamed the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest for not speaking up about the text sooner, according to Fox News.
“As I think about this, it feels so f—ing small compared to what other women in the workplace experience, but I was afraid to speak up,” she reportedly said
“Between New Year’s and my follow-up, an insurrection happened on Capitol Hill where I feared I would lose loved ones. I felt like if I called him out, I was risking everything I was finally starting to build with the network and, as someone who is known for being courageous, I cannot begin to tell you how much I felt like… a coward. In 10 short days, I felt like what was the clear ride to the Promised Land turned into quicksand.”
Dye reportedly apologized for not speaking out sooner, and promised to never go on Cuomo’s show. Cuomo is now working for News Nation.
CNN reportedly declined to comment, while Cuomo has yet to publicly address the situation.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
