Cuomo makes MeToo joke on historic day for female politicians in New York

Gov. Cuomo made a risque joke about sexual harassment as reporters swarmed him outside his Capitol office.

“Space, we need space,” the Governor said to reporters who jockeyed to get in questions about the new legislative session. “I’ll bring you up on charges under the Me Too movement.”

Adding to the awkwardness, Cuomo made the comment shortly after Andrea Stewart-Cousins was installed as New York State’s first female majority leader in the state Senate. She was sworn in by the female state chief judge, Janet DiFiore. The governor praised her success during “angry, hateful, bigoted times” after his #MeToo comment.

“I stand here in awe of everything that has happened,” a beaming Stewart-Cousins had said minutes earlier from the Capitol rostrum, where attendees wore “Madame Leader” buttons on their lapels.

This isn’t the first time Cuomo has raised eyebrows with a perceived sexual innuendo. Weeks before being re-elected in 2018, the three-time governor engaged in a chippy debate with Republican candidate Marc Molinaro, where CBS moderator Marcia Cramer asked Cuomo to sing a few bars of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind.”