Chris Cuomo mocked for response after falling for deepfake AOC video

The US television host Chris Cuomo has been pilloried for falling for a clearly marked parody AI video of the congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

On Wednesday Cuomo, a host on NewsNation and formerly of CNN, took to Instagram to share a video that was prominently watermarked as a “deepfake” video, made using AI technology. It depicted a fake Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arguing on the floor of Congress that a recent Sydney Sweeney ad, which advertised her “great jeans”, was racist.

Cuomo retorted under the video: “Nothing about hamas or people burning jews cars. But sweeney jeans ad? Deserved time on floor of congress? What happd to this party? Fight for small business … not for small culture wars.”

Ocasio-Cortez responded to the post, stating: “This is a deepfake dude. Please use your critical thinking skills. At this point you’re just reposting Facebook memes and calling it journalism.”

Cuomo then deleted the post, but in response to Ocasio-Cortez on social media he doubled down on his criticism of her, writing: “You are correct...that was a deepfake (but it really does sound like you). Thank you for correcting. But now to the central claim: show me you calling on hamas to surrender or addressing the bombing of a car in st louis belonging to the idf american soldier?...dude?”

“I’m going to assume you were trying to reply to me and burped this tweet into the ether instead,” Ocasio-Cortez responded. “You seem to struggle with knowing how to write an apology. Do you need help? Maybe you should call someone.”

Cuomo took his non-apology tour to NewsNation, stating in a post: “I was wrong...but what is right?”

Later, on air, he protested: “She ignored the part of the tweet that mattered.”

And he followed up yet again by complaining about Ocasio-Cortez: “Correcting a mistake is simple...explaining why you dont call on terrorists to surrender is as well.”

Cuomo’s blunder and unapologetic follow-up was roundly mocked online. His fellow television personality Piers Morgan posted: “Oh dear Chris Cuomo – perhaps spend less time bitching about me and more time trying to spot obvious fakes.”

Ocasio-Cortez endorsed and has continued to publicly back Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race. Mamdani defeated Cuomo’s brother, Andrew Cuomo, in the Democratic primary, and will face him again in November, with Cuomo now on the ballot as an independent.

Chris Cuomo was fired by CNN in 2021 after the news channel discovered new information about his involvement in aiding his brother’s defense to sexual harassment allegations.