YouTube has apologized and said it made a “mistake” after removing a video of an altercation between CNN host Chris Cuomo and a member of the public.
CNN's Cuomo exploded in anger after a man in New York called him “Fredo”. Fredo is a nickname that is meant to be an insult as it references a character from the movie The Godfather to describe him as the weaker, less intelligent brother in the Corleone family.
The video of the altercation went viral, as internet users were shocked to see Cuomo threaten the man with physical violence – saying he was going to throw him down the stairs.
“We're gonna have a f*ckin problem,” Cuomo said to the man who allegedly had asked to take a picture with him.
“I'll f*ckin ruin your shit. I'll f*ckin throw you down the stairs like a f*ckin punk!” Cuomo said in the massively viral video.
The video's explosive popularity is such that it's still the number one trend on Twitter and even Donald Trump Jr jumped into the argument on Monday night and said of the video, “I assume CNN not available for comment. Imagine their coverage of this if they were a real news organization?”
Chris Cuomo defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup. We completely support him.
— Matt Dornic (@mdornic) August 13, 2019
CNN's chief PR rep, Matt Dornic backed Cuomo claiming he was merely defending himself against an “ethnic slur,” referring to the “Fredo” nickname.
However, the suggestion that the nickname “Fredo” was an ethnic slur was was one that amused the internet and caused the video to go even more viral, spurring a flurry of further memes.
The original video was posted to a YouTube channel named “THAT'S THE POINT with Brandon,” and was called “**EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE!** CNN ANCHOR CHRIS CUOMO THREATENING TRUMP SUPPORTER!”
After the video went viral on other platforms such as Twitter, YouTube removed the original video and, when visitors went to the page they were met with the following message:
“This video has been removed for violating YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying.”
The Twitter account for THAT'S THE POINT with Brandon complained about the deletion on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/THEECONSTITUTI1/status/1161246220267868161
YouTube has recently been removing controversial videos over what it says are privacy concerns. For example, YouTube had recently deleted videos in which a Google executive exposed Google's bias on “privacy” grounds.
When pressed for comment on the issue, YouTube gave the copy and paste response that they often do:
“With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it's brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it. We also offer uploaders the ability to appeal removals and we will re-review the content.”
The video was reinstated.
