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The Cuomosexuals: Was Ellen DeGeneres behind the shocking movement to elicit support for Andrew Cuomo?

The phrase 'Cuomosexuals' was a way to refer to those who had a 'crush' on the Cuomo brothers, both of whom were frequently on air during the pandemic

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation after a damning report by Attorney General Letitia James revealed he allegedly sexually harassed 11 women. Now, the word "Cuomosexuals" has a whole new meaning. 

The term was originally adopted by talk show hosts like Ellen DeGeneres, Stephen Colbert, and Trevor Noah, all of whom popularized the term on national television. It helped carve out a more populist fanbase for the soon-to-be-ex politician as well as his brother, Chris Cuomo, who hosts his own segment on CNN. Women openly expressed admiration for the Cuomo brothers. Since Andrew was single and was in more of a power position than his younger brother, the number of his female admirers were far greater than that of his brother. 

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Who are the 'Cuomosexuals'? 

Andrew Cuomo even openly admitted to embracing the hype surrounding the term after he appeared on an episode of 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.' “Yeah, I think that’s a good thing,” Andrew Cuomo told DeGeneres, smiling from his home. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing." After DeGeneres clarified that the word also “includes your brother Chris” and “both Cuomos — I enjoy both of you very much,” Andrew made his competitive spirit known. “Yes, but you enjoy me more,” he said. “Didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Cuomosexual” soon transformed into an internet buzzword, which appeared on clothing items and earned its own Urban Dictionary entry. It presently reads, "In love with an incompetent, gropey, hyper-corrupt Governor who has an atrocious COVID track record, and a history of questionable sexual behavior because the media has never bothered to hold him accountable in any way or bothered to look into what he was doing. This caused the press to falsely portrayed him as an exemplar of competence, and Governor Cuomo to believe he didn't need to be accountable."

The Cuomo Effect

As people were forced to isolate themselves inside their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic, it seemed that the Cuomo Effect was all the rage everywhere. When Chris Cuomo covered the 2020 elections overnight, he was a hit with the ladies for reasons that had little to do with his election night performance. "It’s the cuomo shift!! chris cuomo is sooo foyne" one said, while another gushed, "Oooo Chris Cuomo has the 2 am shift? Just when I thought I wanted to go to bed..." 

But his brother Andrew had boarded the 'charm everyone' bandwagon way before his younger brother. So much so that Ben Smith, the New York Times’s new media columnist, wrote a column headlined “Andrew Cuomo is the Control Freak We All Need Right Now,” to praise him. Politico also ran a profile piece that dug into his past presidential aspirations, contemplating the odds for his aspirations to run for the White House top post in the future. 

In a piece published in Jezebel by reporter Rebecca Fishbein, titled, "Help, I Think I'm In Love With Andrew Cuomo???" she talked about how she seemed to be under the NY governor's spell because he was the only face she got to see on her television every day, telling her about how to be safe by following Covid-19 protocols. "The less contact I have with other humans, the more I start to think of Cuomo as my only friend. I’ve started laughing at his little jokes. I catch myself touching my hair (not my face!) when he talks about an increase in testing capacity. I swooned when he told a reporter he had his own workout routine. I have watched a clip of him and brother Chris Cuomo bickering about their mother at least 20 times. I think I have a crush???" she wrote, later attributing her feelings to probable "Stockholm Syndrome."

The Cuomo brothers became so popular that a matchmaking survey published in the New York Daily News asserted that the pair were more desirable to women than the Jonas brothers. Andrew also went on radio station 1010 WINS, where he told host Susan Richard, "Well Susan, I did not see that, but now that you raise that 'most wanted eligibility,' my brother is married. I am not married. So I don't think he would qualify as eligible — however I am eligible."

The survey in question, taken by more than 2000 female participants, showed that the New York ladies would prefer having relationships with the Sicilian siblings more than any others. “The Cuomo brothers won in a tie for the most handsome men in New York, a contest that I survey my clients every year to know what women are looking for,” matchmaker Maureen Tara Nelson, who conducted the survey said. “In my 19 years of matchmaking, and every year I have done this particular survey, I have never had a tie."

Nelson said that one of the reasons behind the sudden popularity of the Cuomo brothers could be because of their increased visibility on television, stemming from coverage of Covid-19. “Women in quarantine are setting their standards very high, but I think under these stressful circumstances, women want a strong ‘take-charge’ kind of guy, like the governor and someone who can live in a basement for three weeks and still look buff," Nelson said.