Cuomosexual peddlers are losing their shirts.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation in disgrace this week is spelling a crisis for those hawking merchandise to his once-adoring admirers.
When the 63-year-old politician’s profile soared last year thanks to his daily coronavirus briefings, a flood of merchandise was made to profit on the “Cuomosexual” trend — including T-shirts, totes, baseball hats, mugs and even $400 cashmere sweaters.
But by Wednesday many were no longer available, their previous presence at times scrubbed from the internet.
Some sellers confirmed to the New York Times that they had removed — or would remove — their items for sale after being made aware of an investigation concluding that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women.
One Etsy seller even sent the outlet a photo of someone holding a flame to one of her “Cuomosexual” T-shirts that she has taken out of her online store.
“When I created and decided to sell these items, it was meant to be lighthearted and I never thought he would be accused of such outrageous behavior,” Jennifer Powell, 43, from Flower Mound, Texas, told the paper.
One Redbubble seller said the site had deleted Cuomosexual listings, citing a violation of guidelines. Some items still remained on the site, however.
An Etsy seller, James Melzer, 43, from Pennsylvania, insisted to the Times that he’d been unaware of the sexual harassment findings — but removed his “I am a Cuomosexual” items as soon as he was informed.
“I have family members that were sexually assaulted, friends that were. So I take that very seriously,” he said.
“I have no interest in promoting or being associated with that type of behavior,” he told the Times, expressing shock that he had received orders even after the attorney general’s report on Cuomo was released.
New York filmmaker Kely Nascimento-DeLuca, 54, stood by her decision to buy a “Cuomosexual” T-shirt in April, even though she would not do so today.
“I definitely was a ‘Cuomosexual’ in that moment,” she said. “I feel like it represented a moment in time.”
While “Cuomosexual” designs were fast disappearing, one line still remained for sale — T-shirts, posters and mugs that declared Cuomo “the worst Governor in America.”
