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‘Cuomo Has Zero To Apologize For’: Hannity Defends CNN Host After Heated ‘Fredo’ Confrontation

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Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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Fox News host Sean Hannity defended CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Twitter Monday evening following a viral video showing Cuomo threatening a man for calling him “Fredo.”

The video was originally posted on a YouTube channel called “THAT’S THE POINT with Brandon.” It showed Cuomo getting angry with a man who called him “Fredo,” which is a reference to Fredo Corleone, a fictional character from “The Godfather.”

Cuomo told the man that calling an Italian “Fredo” is equal to using “the n-word” and threatened to throw him down the stairs.

Hannity came to Cuomo’s defense after the video went viral on Twitter and wrote that the guy who called him “Fredo” was “being a jackass.” Hannity tweeted Monday that Cuomo “deserves the apology.” (RELATED: Trump Weighs In On Cuomo Blowout: ‘The Truth Hurts’)

Matt Dornic, vice president of communication for CNN, tweeted the news outlet “completely” supports Cuomo in a reply to the president’s son Donald Trump Jr.

“No, punk ass bitches from the right call me Fredo,” Cuomo said in the video. “I’m an anchor on CNN. Fredo was on ‘The Godfather.’ He was the weak brother, and they use it as an Italian aspersion. Any of you Italian? It’s a fucking insult to your people. It’s an insult to your fucking people. It’s like the n-word for us. So, is that a cool fucking thing?”

“I’ll fucking ruin your shit,” he said. “I’ll fucking throw you down these stairs like a fucking punk.”

Others have hit back at Cuomo’s outburst, saying that calling an Italian “Fredo” is not an ethnic slur. Trump Jr., who a CNN guest called “Fredo,” tweeted that it “isn’t the N word for Italians, it just means you’re the dumb brother.”

Madison Gesiotto, a columnist for The Hill, wrote on Twitter: “I am an Italian-American and ‘Fredo’ is honestly not the term that I would consider to be the most insulting against Italians.”

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