Chris Cuomo told CNN colleague and SiriusXM radio host Michael Smerconish that he views the “fake news” label thrown at the media as the journalistic equivalent of the n-word. 
 
 Cuomo spoke to a Democratic senator today who confirmed that Neil Gorsuch expressed his concern about President Trump‘s attacks on the judiciary. Trump tweeted this in response: 
 
 Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017 
 
 Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave "service" in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017 
 
 Cuomo pushed back against Trump earlier today, but elaborated with this stunning remark to Smerconish: 
 
 I see being called ‘fake news’ as the equivalent of the n-word for journalists, the equivalent of calling an Italian any of the ugly words that people have for that ethnicity.That’s what fake news is to a journalist. It is an ugly insult, and you’d better be right if you’re going to charge a journalist with lying on purpose. 
 
 Listen above, via SiriusXM. 
 
 UPDATE –– 4:32 pm ET: Cuomo has since apologized. 
 
 [image via screengrab] 
 
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 Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac 
 
 Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| President Trump Donald John Trump7 targets Michelle Wolf took aim at during the White House correspondents’ dinner North Korea says it will dismantle nuclear test site next month: report President of White House Correspondents Association defends journalism after Trump attacks MORE is asking his supporters to help him award a “Fake News Trophy.” 
 
 “Americans are sick and tired of being lied to, insulted, and treated with outright condescension,” reads an email sent to supporters Thursday. “That’s why President Trump is crowning the 2017 KING OF FAKE NEWS before the end of the year. 
 
 “There’s no point in pretending that some journalists are anything more than peddlers of falsehoods and liberal propaganda,” it continues. 
 
 Trump has feuded with reporters and networks during his campaign and presidency, labeling unflattering coverage as “fake news.” 
 
 In November, he suggested that there should be a contest among the networks, excluding Fox News, for the “Fake News Trophy.” 
 
 We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2017 
 
 A Rasmussen poll conducted after Trump’s tweet found that a plurality of Americans would award Fox News the trophy. In contrast to his attacks on CNN, ABC News and other networks, Trump has been complimentary toward Fox News, praising the network and its reporters for their ratings and appearing on the network more than a dozen times for interviews. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 The Trump campaign’s email links to a poll where participants can vote on three media stories as “fake,” “faker” or “fakest” news. 
 
 The candidates for “fakest news” are all stories that networks either retracted, corrected or apologized for, including an ABC News report that Michael Flynn would testify against Trump; a CNN report that Trump and his son, Donald Jr., were offered early access to WikiLeaks documents; and a Time magazine report that Trump had a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. removed from the Oval Office. 
 
 “The FAKE NEWS has utterly abandoned their duty to fairly report the news to the American people,” Thursday’s email reads. “Some journalists and liberal pundits think that Americans are too stupid to see through their amateur efforts to manipulate public opinion, but THEY’RE WRONG.” ||||| New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have just handed Republicans a ready-made campaign ad for his rumored 2020 presidential bid – by declaring Wednesday that America “was never that great.” 
 
 The Democratic star made the seemingly offhand remark as part of his rebuke of President Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan during a bill-signing in New York. But the line drew gasps from the crowd. 
 
 “We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great,” Cuomo said, to an awkward blend of gasps and chuckles. 
 
 
 
 “We have not reached greatness, we will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged, we will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping against women, 51 percent of our population, is gone and every woman’s full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution,” he said. 
 
 Within hours, his spokeswoman tried walking it back. “The Governor believes America is great and that her full greatness will be fully realized when every man, woman, and child has full equality. America has not yet reached its maximum potential,” Cuomo's press secretary, Dani Lever, said in a statement. “When the President speaks about making America great again - going back in time - he ignores the pain so many endured and that we suffered from slavery, discrimination, segregation, sexism and marginalized women's contributions. The Governor believes that when everyone is fully included and everyone is contributing to their maximum potential, that is when America will achieve maximum greatness.” 
 
 But the “never that great” line tore through social media in a New York minute, as journalists and his political rivals seized on the remark. 
 
 Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro said America, “with its imperfections, has always been great” and called on Cuomo to apologize. 
 
 “This governor is so determined to distract voters from his failed policies and corrupted administration that he’s willing to dismiss the steady, determined march of the American people, making and remaking the greatness of America. Mr. Cuomo owes the nation an apology,” he said in a statement. “He should be ashamed of himself." 
 
 Cuomo for months has been positioning himself as one of the biggest gubernatorial foes of the Trump White House. He also is facing a primary challenge from the left from actress and activist Cynthia Nixon. 
 
 Nixon has made a number of controversial statements, including calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement a terrorist organization, and has claimed Cuomo is shifting to the left in response. 
 
 'SEX AND THE CITY' STAR CYNTHIA NIXON BOASTS CUOMO BEING DRAGGED TO THE LEFT BY 'THE CYNTHIA EFFECT' 
 
 
 
 “It’s called The Cynthia Effect,” Nixon said in a speech in May. “Since I got in the race, Cuomo has moved left not only on marijuana, but climate change, teacher evaluations, restoring voting rights and banning plastic bags.” 
 
 But it remains to be seen whether Cuomo's stances in the New York race could come back to haunt a 2020 bid. Earlier this week while addressing New York Republicans, Trump dared Cuomo to run against him. 
 
 “Please do it. Please,” the president said in Utica, adding that “anybody that runs against Trump suffers.” 
 
 Fox News’ Barnini Chakraborty and Mike Arroyo contributed to this report.
– CNN's Chris Cuomo is tired of hearing the phrase "fake news" tossed around constantly, but he's apologizing for an analogy he made about it. In an interview with Michael Smerconish on SiriusXM Thursday, Cuomo said, "I see being called 'fake news' as the equivalent of the n-word for journalists," per Mediaite. (President Trump had accused Cuomo of being a purveyor of "fake news" earlier in the day.) Cuomo's analogy drew quick condemnation online, and he soon walked it back in a tweet: "I was wrong. Calling a journalist fake (is) nothing compared to the pain of a racial slur. I should not have said it. I apologize." Meanwhile, a blogger at the Washington Post makes the case that the charge of "fake news" has lost all meaning because it is used so often by politicians who simply dislike a story.