The Big Boys of Cable News Are Fighting!!!

I love when my unlikeable, weird uncles fight: NBC’s Chuck Todd FIRED BACK at Chris Cuomo today after the CNN anchor lightly criticized him in a new profile and even tagged in fellow Big Name Jake Tapper. We’ve got a big boys of cable news feud on our hands, folks!!

Asked about the drama—Cuomo unfavorably compared Todd to Tapper in a Hollywood Reporter story out this week—Todd said he doesn’t even know Cuomo, and suggested he’s just steamed because “nobody” wanted to hire him.

“I just read it as somebody who wanted to defend that fact that nobody in broadcast television wanted to hire him, I guess, or he couldn’t get the job that he wanted,” Todd said during a call-in to WABC radio in New York. “I don’t know what it was, but he was awfully defensive, so he took shots at other people. I’m like, dude.”

Dude!!

Todd went on to say his friend Jake (Tapper) was “even angrier” to be brought into this mess at all.

In the freewheeling profile, Cuomo swears a lot, utters the line “I was built for the battle,” and also correctly implies that no one really cares what Todd’s doing on Meet the Press. From the story (emphasis mine):

Because “things are going well for us, optically,” Cuomo says his agent has been approached about other TV jobs, particularly at the broadcast networks. He recites the pitch: “Go to the bigger shows. There aren’t a lot of guys like you.”

But broadcast news shows, particularly light-hearted morning fare, don’t interest him, despite their larger audiences. It’s an issue of political relevance. “Anderson Cooper is a hell of a lot bigger than any male anywhere on network television,” he says. “I would argue that Chuck Todd ain’t Jake Tapper. Jake Tapper has a much bigger footprint in politics than Chuck Todd does.”

WHOA! HE WENT THERE! You do NOT come for another member of the talking heads club!! I really, really can’t wait to see how this plays out.