![]() Chelsea Handler gushed about the gov in a column, “Dear Andrew Cuomo, I Want to Be Your First Lady,” penned for Vogue in late March. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Cuomo’s emergence as a sex symbol, particularly after the curve of the state’s infection rate started to flatten. The charts and graphs became more stylish and meme-friendly. “Ventilators, ventilators, ventilators” became his rallying cry. “I will turn this state upside down to get the number of beds we need,” Cuomo assured those watching on March 24.Ĭuomo’s sessions soon began running an hour or longer. His command of government systems and public policy was evident as he detailed what the Empire State was doing to combat the virus and where the federal government was falling short. ![]() Over the course of his briefings, especially as the rates of infection and death spiked in March and April, he looked squarely at the cameras and the reporters in the room and told them the unvarnished truth - taming COVID-19 would be hard and painful. Within days, Cuomo was heralded as a leader who stepped up to the challenge of communicating in uncertain times. Tell me why I should be relaxed.’ Which is a very big difference there.” “And my daughter said, ‘Don’t tell me to relax. She had seen on the news that a person tested positive,” Cuomo said on March 2, with the accent and gesticulations befitting an Italian American political scion from Queens. “Late last night my daughter called me, and I could hear in her voice that she was anxious. ![]() He made references to his now-89-year-old mother, Matilda, and his adult daughters, Cara, Mariah and Michaela. From the start, he spoke candidly and humbly about his own fears. He joked about his shortcomings as a divorced father when it came to making family meals. His direct, no-bullshit, unfiltered and often charming delivery was so pitch-perfect that I found myself yelling, ‘Yes!’ at the TV.”Ĭuomo connected with viewers because he instinctively did what a great talk show host must do - make it personal. “As a host, he made you feel informed, connected, protected and entertained - when we needed it most. “Governor Cuomo doing a daily, live coronavirus briefing was must-see TV,” says Corin Nelson, a veteran talk show producer and native New Yorker who watched Cuomo’s sessions from her home in Los Angeles. Nobody was more surprised than the governor when he started generating social media shoutouts and pop culture buzz for his style and substance. Cuomo became the most unlikely TV star as he walked viewers through charts and graphs demonstrating the scope of the threat. That 12-minute introduction, part of a 34-minute session with other state leaders, was the first of 111 consecutive daily briefings for New Yorkers and the wider world about the grim progress of the worst pandemic to hit the U.S. With fear across the country spiking, Cuomo’s briefing was carried live by New York’s local TV stations - and nationally on CNN and other news outlets. Andrew Cuomo conducted a media briefing in an effort to spread vital news and information about the coronavirus outbreak that was just starting to be recognized as a massive public health threat. In a year when all of entertainment was turned upside down, nobody saw it coming: The hottest property in daytime TV as America went on lockdown was a 62-year-old career politician holding court in Albany, N.Y.
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