Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo joked with a radio station host during a Friday morning interview, asking: “I want to know if we have a date?”
The flirtatious comment came after Excarlet Molina, a host of New York’s 97.9 FM station, asked if Cuomo could dance merengue like New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“Eric Adams, he has been actively engaging with the Latin American community. He’s out there all the time, even dancing merengue,” Molina said. “I want to know if Andrew Cuomo will be willing to dance merengue with the Dominicans?”
“Are you asking me to go dancing with you?” Cuomo responded, laughing. “If that’s a personal offer, yes. I’m interested.”
Music began playing, and Cuomo started swinging his arms before he asked the host for a date, which led to silence. Then everyone present began laughing. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Politico that the whole thing was a joke.
Carlos Molina, the show’s producer, said that it was a joke, the show was all in good fun, and Cuomo was “very respectful.”
“He didn’t even want to touch her,” Molina said. “He didn’t want to get into it. The question was a little awkward. That was the problem.”
The moment drew the ire of many of Cuomo’s detractors, who have pointed out the past sexual harassment allegations against him that led to his resignation as New York’s governor. He has denied the allegations.
Cuomo’s first sexual harassment accuser, Lindsey Boylan, told the Washington Examiner when asked for comment: “Once a slimy predator, always a slimy predator.”
City Comptroller Brad Lander’s mayoral campaign echoed the same sentiment.
“This is the same pervert who sexually harassed over a dozen women, including a State Trooper, and is forcing New York taxpayers to pay over $60M for his legal defense. Every time you think Andrew Cuomo cannot get more despicable and sleazy, he finds a way,” Lander campaign spokeswoman Dora Pekec told the Washington Examiner.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is also running for mayor, said in a post on X, “He can’t help himself. How could he possibly help our city? New Yorkers deserve so much better.”
Anti-Cuomo group Don’t Rank Evil Andrew For Mayor, or DREAM, posted a video of the encounter with the caption, “This is the Cuomo his PR team is always trying to hide: a creepy loser who governs with one hand.”
This is the Cuomo his PR team is always trying to hide: a creepy loser who governs with one hand. https://t.co/LHqznqriK3 pic.twitter.com/4KcvlfHBuT
— Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor (@dreamfornyc) May 16, 2025
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Cuomo is the front-runner in the Democratic primary for New York City’s mayoral race. A Marist University poll conducted in the first week of May showed Cuomo beating socialist Zohran Mamdani in the sixth round of ranked choice voting, with Lander being eliminated in the fifth round, with 18% of the vote.
The primary will take place on June 24.