After a video of CNN host Chris Cuomo‘s threatening meltdown in confrontation with a man who called him “Fredo” went viral, Daily Show host Trevor Noah mocked Cuomo for his ludicrous claim that the name is a slur to Italians equivalent to the N-word for blacks.
Noah began his segment on Tuesday by playing a clip of an enraged Cuomo threatening to throw the man “down these stairs like a fucking punk.” “Now I see why CNN makes people fight in separate boxes. That’s just workplace safety,” Noah joked. “If you talk trash to [Cuomo] in the streets, the only thing that might end up breaking is your face.”
“So since this video went viral, there’s been a big conversation over whether the word ‘Fredo’ is a slur,” Noah said. “Now, some are saying that it’s a reference to the dumb brother in The Godfather… but some are also saying it’s an ethnic slur. In fact, Cuomo himself claimed that it’s like calling an Italian person the n-word.”
Noah then introduced correspondent Roy Wood Jr. to answer whether the terms are equivalent. Wood merely stared wordlessly at the camera before exiting.