Culture

Andrew Cuomo scraps Thanksgiving gathering with 89-year-old mother after backlash



New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has scrapped a plan to have his 89-year-old mother visit him in Albany for Thanksgiving after facing widespread backlash.

Mr. Cuomo has been stressing for weeks leading up to the holidays the need for New Yorkers to stay home and avoid gathering with people outside their households during the coronavirus pandemic. So when he announced Monday that he planned to have his elderly mother travel from Manhattan to have dinner with him in Albany, social media erupted.

“The story is, my mom is going to come up and two of my girls is the current plan,” Mr. Cuomo told WAMC radio, an NPR affiliate. “But the plans change, but that’s my plan. But I’m going to work — I have a lot of work to do between now and Thanksgiving.”

The governor had stated just last week that he would not be seeing his mother for Thanksgiving because it was too dangerous. He also said leaders “should be setting the highest standards” during the pandemic.

A few hours after his comments Monday, a Cuomo adviser said the dinner wasn’t happening.

“As the Governor said, ‘The story is my mom is going to come up and two of my girls is the current plan, but the plans change. That’s my plan. I’m going to work — I’ve got a lot of work to do between now and Thanksgiving,’ and given the current circumstances with COVID, he will have to work through Thanksgiving and will not be seeing them,” Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, told Business Insider in a statement.

“Don’t tell his mom — she doesn’t know yet,” he added.

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