HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Cuomo Announces, Abruptly Cancels Plans to Spend Thanksgiving With His 89-Year-Old Mother

The New York governor had begged residents to scrap their own plans because of the surge in coronavirus cases and just last week said he would not see his mother.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday admitted he planned to host his 89-year-old mother for Thanksgiving, despite previously pleading with residents to stay home during the holiday season amid a new surge of COVID-19 cases. During an interview on WAMC, Cuomo said his mother and two daughters would come to Albany: “The story is, my mom is going to come up and two of my girls. But the plans change.”

Then, amidst near-immediate outrage over his rogue holiday dinner, one of Cuomo’s senior advisors issued a statement clarifying that the governor's plans had changed (again) and that he would be working during Thanksgiving. Richard Azzopardi wrote, “The plans were still changing and given the current circumstances with COVID, he will have to work through Thanksgiving and will not be seeing them. Don’t tell his mom—she doesn’t know yet.” Last week Cuomo had insisted he was not seeing his mother on Thanksgiving out of fear even the smallest family gatherings could fuel a massive spike in COVID-19.