Chris Cuomo Opens Up About Abrupt CNN Exit: “I Don’t Like How It Ended”

Chris Cuomo visited HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday and reflected on his exit from CNN.

At the start of the sit-down, host Bill Maher asked Cuomo if he was happy that his recently launched podcast, The Chris Cuomo Project, has been getting attention. Cuomo was previously a CNN host until the cable channel dropped him in December amid details emerging that he advised his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, regarding allegations of sexual harassment.

“Happy — probably not the right word,” Cuomo replied. “I feel like I lost a sense of purpose for a while because of how things ended.”

Cuomo said his goal with his future projects is to be “breaking through the toxic twosome of partisan politics and speaking to the vast body of people in this country who are just regular, and they want things to make sense.”

When Maher asked if it feels good to hear reports that CNN’s ratings in his former time slot are down significantly since his departure, Cuomo said it doesn’t and that he doesn’t believe in schadenfreude. “It’s a great organization, and they’re great people there,” he said. “I want good things for people there. I don’t like how it ended. I had a great team I didn’t get to say goodbye to. I just want to move on.”

When asked how brother Andrew is doing after resigning as governor of New York in August, Chris said, “I’m supposed to say, ‘Oh, he’s great,’ but that would be what we call bullshit, right?” The journalist added, “He has been in a struggle, and I have watched it, and I am proud of how he’s handling himself.”

Cuomo also discussed his own newly announced primetime show on cable network NewsNation that is set to debut this fall: “I’m going to NewsNation because I believe in insurgent media, and I think NewsNation has a chance to not be seen as groupthink.”