US Politics
‘HotGirlsForCuomo’ website leads to list of allegations against former governor after influencer failed to buy domain in time for launch
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A website set to launch in support of New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo has been redirected to a report into sexual harassment allegations against the ex-governor after the activist behind it failed to buy the domain name in time.
Conservative influencer Emily Austin posted a video on social media on Tuesday in which she announced: “Today, I’m officially launching ‘Hot Girls for Cuomo,’ so if you’re a hot girl for Andrew Cuomo, I want to hear from you!!”
But, at the time of writing, the web address hotgirlsforcuomo.com redirects to the New York Attorney General’s investigation into the allegations made against Cuomo in 2021, who denied any wrongdoing but stepped down as governor in August of that year after leading the Empire State during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The report found that Cuomo “sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature.”
“Our investigation revealed that the governor’s sexually harassing behavior was not limited to members of his own staff, but extended to other state employees, including a State Trooper on his protective detail and members of the public,” the probe concluded.
Austin saw the funny side of the disaster, linking to a report about the domain name fiasco and commenting: “Mom look I’m trending!”
The influencer – who has been pictured with President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr at the White House – has called on Republicans to back Cuomo, running as an independent, rather than the official GOP candidate, Curtis Sliwa.
She argues that the former has a better chance of defeating progressive Democrat Zohran Mamdani.
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By most counts, Cuomo came off second best in last week’s debate with Mamdani and Sliwa from NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with the front-runner accusing Cuomo of peddling Islamophobia, cosying up to Trump, and empowering landlords over tenants.
“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity, and what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience,” Mamdani blasted the former governor.
Arguably, though, it was Sliwa, largely an onlooker in the debate, who landed the most devastating blow on Cuomo when he invoked the allegations against him by saying: “I know you think you’re the toughest guy alive, but let me tell you something: You lost your own primary, right?
“You were rejected by your Democrats. You have a difficulty understanding what the term ‘no’ is.”
