'Cuomo Lied, New Yorkers Died!' - Protesters Storm Stage At Mayor Candidate Forum

As he continues his bid for the New York City mayor's office, scandal-plagued former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was accosted by storm-staging protesters at a candidate forum on Wednesday evening. The young throng hurled profane insults at him, and condemned him for his deadly and dishonest mishandling of the Covid pandemic. Afterward, the organizer of the "Black Agenda for NYC" forum said it was a particular "disgrace" that some of the disrupters were white people.  

New York Post)

Cuomo was in mid-sentence on the stage at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn when the group of perhaps 10 protesters stormed the stage, some shouting "Fuck you, Cuomo!" They tried but failed to unfurl a long banner --  as NYPD officers wearing "Community Affairs" shirts quickly moved to intercept them. 

It appears at least one of the prominent words on the banners was "KILL." As they were ushered out of the auditorium, some of the protesters chanted "Cuomo Lied, New Yorkers Died!" That line of attack almost certainly refers to Cuomo's catastrophic bungling of New York's response to Covid-19, which struck during his tenure as governor. His administration was widely condemned for ordering nursing homes to accept Covid-positive patients who were discharging from hospitals -- a mandate linked to upwards of 15,000 deaths. The Cuomo regime was also accused of deliberately understating the number of those long-term-care-resident deaths by some 50%.  

Cuomo barely budged as the mayhem broke out and then engulfed him. When it subsided he said, “That’s part of the problem in this system, right? Too much politics, not enough substance, not enough discussion." Later, he said, "If I don’t get protested about something, it’s a slow day...A lot of these issues are contentious. People have different opinions and God bless.” Speaking of God, Cuomo resigned his governorship in August 2021 after at least 11 women filed various accusations of unwelcome sexual advances by the now-67-year-old -- from kisses to groping to creepy comments. 

New York Post)

At the podium, Henry Butler, the vice chair of the Brooklyn Democrats and organizer of the event -- and an endorser of Cuomo -- expressed disgust that white people would attempt to affect black people's opinions:  

“The clown show is over. One of the issues and problems with the Democratic Party, who claim to be a big tent party, is that if you don’t have a certain view, then they try to shout you down. And I think it’s a disgrace when I see a bunch of young, WHITE progressives trying to tell black people who we should vote for. Do not tell us who we should vote for -- we are educated, we know how to think for ourselves. We don't need you here telling us what we should be doing and how we should vote!"

Contrary to Butler's characterization, it appeared most of the protesters were black -- including the first ones to mount the stage. If he's blaming the white protesters for the actions of the black ones, that would seemingly contradict his assertion that black people "don't need [whites]...telling us what we should be doing." Regardless, his denunciation of the white presence predictably elicited loud cheers and applause from the crowd:

It's been a rough couple weeks for Cuomo. First, auditors reported that, under Cuomo, the state government poured $453 million into building an enormous stockpile of medical equipment essentially that went unused: Out of 247,343 medical devices purchased, the state wound up using only three pieces of equipment -- then left it to decay in warehouses the state rented to hold the horde. It's still sitting there five years after the pandemic arrived. 

On Monday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer sent a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi, renewing his committee's criminal referral urging that Cuomo be investigated for making false statements to Congress -- about the deadly nursing home scandal. The previous referral was ignored by the Biden administration. 

Several candidates are running for the Democratic nomination, but a recent poll has Cuomo well out in front at 45%, leading Socialist, Muslim, ethnic-Indian, Uganda-born, New-York-raised, failed rapper and Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who's the choice of 22% of likely voters. However, he's surged from just 9% in January on a campaign centered on rent-freezes, free buses and free childcare funded in part by higher corporate taxes. Consistent with the messaging of the stage-stormers, he's also attacked Cuomo on his handling of Covid-19. 

If you enjoyed Wednesday night's spectacle, there's ample opportunity for more: The Democratic primary isn't until June 24; the general election is on Nov. 4.