Andrew Cuomo Says N-Word On Live Radio

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo used the n-word on live radio Tuesday morning as he tried to make a point about discrimination against Italians.

The Democratic governor quoted a Saturday op-ed in The New York Times that explained how racists lobbed vile epithets at Sicilians after they immigrated to the United States.

"I believe they were saying southern Italians, Sicilians — I’m half-Sicilian — were called quote-unquote — and pardon my language, but I’m just quoting The Times — n----r wops, N-word wops, as a derogatory comment," Cuomo said during an interview on the Albany station WAMC.

Cuomo referenced the slur to underscore his argument that Italian-Americans still face stereotypes just as African American, Jewish and LGBTQ people are attacked for their identities.

The governor also stood by his claim that bigots used the word "wop" as an insult for Italian-Americans who were perceived to be "without papers."

The slur is actually derived from the Italian word "guappo," meaning a tough person, according to Merriam-Webster. An Albany Times-Union column that Cuomo repeatedly has criticized said the word is Italian for "dude or dandy."

But Cuomo suggested the term's previous link to an abhorrent racial epithet proves that it carried a more sinister meaning.

"I’m sure that’s what they were saying to me back in Queens — 'You’re a dandy' — when they looked at me with scorn and gave me a hand gesture and called me a wop," the governor said.

Cuomo pulled out the reference after slamming The New York Post for depicting him, his brother and his father as mafia characters on its cover in August. The image was linked to a story about Chris Cuomo cursing out a man who called him "Fredo," a reference to the bumbling brother in "The Godfather."

"There is the stereotype of the Italian-American as the thug, as the gangster, as organized crime," Cuomo said Tuesday. "And it comes right back up to the surface as soon as it’s touched, and it has to be fought and countered all the time."