Who is Chris Cuomo’s accuser Shelley Ross?

Ross worked as the executive producer of an ABC entertainment special and was Cuomo’s executive producer at Primetime Live.

What did Shelley Ross accuse Chris Cuomo of?

Ross accused Chris of sexually harassing her at a colleague’s going-away party at an Upper West Side bar in New York City.

She alleged that Chris greeted her with a “strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock” as her husband watched it all unfold.

In the essay, Ross claims she stands up for herself after the encounter and alleges that Chris says to her: “I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss.” 

Ross says she replied to Chris while “pushing him off,” saying:  “No you can’t.”

After leaving the bar, Ross said that Chris sent her an apologetic email about their bar incident claiming that he felt “ashamed” for how the events transpired.

She shared a copy of the alleged email which says: “Though my hearty greeting was a function of being glad to see you…

“...christian slater got arrested for a (kind of) similar act (though borne of an alleged negative intent, unlike my own)... and as a husband i can empathize with not liking to see my wife patted as such…

“So pass along my apology to your very good and noble husband...and i apologize to you as well, for even putting you in such position…

“Next time I will remember the lesson, no matter how happy I am to see you…”

Ross says that by sharing this information she is “not looking for him to lose his job” but claims that “this is an opportunity for him and his employer to show what accountability can look like in the #MeToo era.”

What did Chris Cuomo say about the Shelley Ross allegations?

According to Ross’ essay, Chris addressed the allegations on September 23, 2021, saying: “As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. 

“It happened 16 years ago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. 

“I apologized to her then, and I meant it.”

Agreeing with Chris, Ross says in her essay she “never thought that Mr. Cuomo’s behavior was sexual in nature.”

However, she states that “whether he understood it at the time or not, his form of sexual harassment was a hostile act meant to diminish and belittle his female former boss in front of the staff.”