Tony Roman is the owner of Huntington Beach, California restaurant Basilico’s Pasta E Vino where he's made headlines for implementing a rule that only individuals who haven't received a Wuhan coronavirus vaccine are allowed to patronize his establishment. For one reason or another, Chris Cuomo decided to have Roman on his CNN show Wednesday night and things, presumably, did not go how Cuomo expected.
Instead of being able to shame Roman, as was Cuomo's likely intention, the script was flipped. "The whole reason this is happening is because people won't protect themselves," Cuomo claimed of the Delta variant's spread. "Tony, I mean, what are you thinking?"
"Then why did you leave your house when you had COVID?" Roman responded. "I mean you had it, and you left your house, it's been documented."
"My ass it's been documented," retorted Cuomo. "I quarantined, I went out, my wife got accosted by somebody," he added. "The science is clear Tony, I don't want you to get sick the way I was sick," said Cuomo of the science he was caught ignoring while gallivanting around the Hamptons during his quarantine — but more on that later.
BOOM: CA restaurant owner calls out Chris Cuomo for breaking quarantine when he was infected with COVID last year. Fredo claimed he "quarantined" but added: "I went out." The restauranteur then called out Gov. Andrew Cuomo for killing New York nursing home residents. pic.twitter.com/ci5cqhl4gr
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 29, 2021
"I don't like people making bad decisions for themselves and their family. I was hoping it was a little bit of a stunt," said Cuomo of Roman's rule. "You have the freedom not to take the vaccine, I just don't know why you think it's a good move."
Roman pushed back on Cuomo's decision to invoke protecting families by suggesting "maybe we should ask your brother [New York Governor Andrew Cuomo] about protecting people, right?"
"I know you talk a lot," Roman continued. "My stance here is a pro-freedom stand only, it's not political. You're only gonna see pro-freedom messages and that's it. You're not going to drag me down the hole talking about the science. This is not about whether I'm pro-vaccine or not — I'm pro-freedom, anti-tyranny. Maybe the conversation should really be between me and your brother."
Cuomo tried to gracefully end the interview after his guest highlighted both he and his brother have less than spotless records in handling the Wuhan coronavirus, but Cuomo failed to smoothly wrap the segment:
Cuomo: "I gave you a chance to make the case, I wish you well, I hope your family stays safe."
Roman: "I made my case, you didn't have much to say."
Cuomo: "Honestly you sound like an idiot so there's not much to say."
Roman: "And so do you."
Cuomo: "Only for having you on the show, that was my only mistake."
Well, maybe not his only mistake. Cuomo's attempts to cover his hypocrisy and unscientific behavior while ill with the Wuhan coronavirus included claims that he was already done quarantining at the time he left his home and traveled to the Hamptons. But it wasn't until more than a week later that CNN aired Cuomo's dramatic emergence from quarantine, supposedly for the first time.
As Guy reported in April, "Cuomo, the younger brother of New York's governor, left his home in the Hamptons over Easter weekend, while he had the virus."
The New York Post's Karol Markowicz spelled it out: "Chris has blatantly not been quarantining. A few days before the announcement about his wife [also contracting the Wuhan coronavirus], Chris was seen in East Hampton, a 30-minute drive from his home, visiting a property of his that is under construction."
Timeline of @ChrisCuomo fake quarantine: https://t.co/pvcppRS3WQ
— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) July 29, 2021
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