Janice Dean accuses NBC’s Lester Holt of censoring guest to protect Andrew Cuomo amid nursing home scandal

Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean accused NBC anchor Lester Holt of censoring a friend of hers in order to protect the reputation of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“So @NBCNews @LesterHoltNBC @TODAYshow censored one of my friends who lost a loved one in a nursing home,” Dean, who lost both of her in-laws to the spread of coronavirus in New York nursing homes, tweeted Saturday. “She wanted to say ‘@andrewcuomo failed us’ in the interview and they told her to say ‘New York failed us’ instead. The mainstream is STILL protecting this guy. Disgusting.”

In a follow-up tweet, Dean referred to Holt as a “disgrace.”

“Shame on you @LesterHoltNBC @NBCNews @TODAYshow,” Dean added. “New York State did not fail us. The governor, his administration and his health department FAILED US. You are a disgrace to all families. Just like @andrewcuomo.”

NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.

Cuomo has been under heavy scrutiny, mostly on social media, this week after a report from New York Attorney General Letitia James showed that the state underreported coronavirus deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%.

The story was largely ignored by most major news networks, with several news programs skipping the story entirely or mentioning it without any references to Cuomo, who signed a directive in March requiring nursing homes to admit coronavirus patients.

That directive was subsequently deleted from the New York State Department of Health website, leading many to accuse Cuomo of trying to cover up the decision that has been blamed for at least 11,000 nursing home deaths in the state.

Over the last few days, Cuomo has placed blame at the feet of the federal government, prompting New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to accuse him of organizing a “criminal cover-up.”

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