Ex-CNNer Allison Gollust Denies Advising Chris Cuomo

The Wall Street Journal on Friday reported damning new details about the ouster of former CNN marketing chief Allison Gollust.  According to The Wrap,  WSJ reported an internal investigation found she advised Chris Cuomo on how to help his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, respond to sexual harassment accusations.

But in a statement provided to TheWrap, Gollust’s representative, Risa Heller, denied that report.

“Allison Gollust never offered advice or counsel to Andrew Cuomo. Period. If she wanted to advise the governor, she could have called or texted him directly (she didn’t). Now 10 days after she resigned, WarnerMedia has offered their fourth reason (or maybe fifth? it’s hard to keep track) for why Allison resigned — the far-fetched notion she was laundering covert advice to the Governor through casual conversations with a colleague is patently ridiculous,” Heller said.

“These are innocuous, mundane conversations that are being spun into a nefarious tale,” Heller continued. “The continued retaliatory smear campaign against a woman who spent nine years serving as the fiercely loyal steward of CNN’s brand, integrity and journalism is despicable, and being used as retrofitted justification for an unmerited dismissal. It is misleading and wrong.”

Gollust resigned from CNN on Feb. 15, just two weeks after her boyfriend, Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned as CNN president. Zucker and Gollust had initially claimed his resignation was because he hadn’t disclosed their romantic relationship to the company.

However, when Gollust resigned, Warnermedia CEO Jason Kilar said in a memo that “the investigation found violations of Company policies, including CNN’s News Standards and Practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Chris Cuomo.”