Tina Tchen resigned from her posts as the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the Time’s Up organisation on Thursday, after her name emerged in association with the case of sexual assault allegations against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The organisation, that promotes the idea of a safe workspace for women and aims to protect them from harrassment, received flak for its alleged complicity in shrouding the first allegation against the Governor that came from Lindsey Boylan, former aide to Cuomo.
In December 2020, Boylan, called Cuomo out on Twitter for sexually harassing her for years. Her allegations surfaced around the time when President Joe Biden was considering Cuomo for the post of Attorney General. Addressing the President in one of her tweets, Boylan wrote, “Joe Biden, if you make this man Attorney General, some women like me will be bringing the receipts. We do not need a sexual harasser and abuser as ‘the law,’ of the land.”
As per a recent Washington Post report, leaders of Time’s Up worked closely with Cuomo’s office when Boylan first reported the case, and Tchen reportedly asked her staff to refrain from releasing a statement in support of the former aide.
Without directly addressing these allegations, Tchen’s statement only said that it was clear that she was not the leader who could help Time’s Up evolve and move forward at the moment. “I am especially aware that my position at the helm of TIME’S UP has become a painful and divisive focal point, where those very women and other activists who should be working together to fight for change are instead battling each other in harmful ways,” the statement further added.
Cuomo announced his resignation earlier this month after an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office found that he had “sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments.” Cuomo had, however, denied the findings of the attorney general.
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Earlier this month, Time’s Up co-founder Roberta Kaplan also resigned after she was named in the attorney general’s investigation.
On Tuesday, Cuomo was stripped of his Emmy honour. In a statement, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that it is rescinding his special 2020 International Emmy Award. “His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy materials going forward,” the statement read.
Cuomo was felicitated with the Founders Emmy Award in November 2020 for his daily coronavirus briefings.