Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday in a radio interview addressed at length the heated exchange his brother Chris had with a man who called him “Fredo” — a reference to the film "The Godfather" he said was demeaning to people with Italian heritage. In the video, the CNN anchor says the label is an “aspersion” to Italians, a reference to a character from "The Godfather," and likened it to calling a black person “the N-word.”

Chris Cuomo acknowledged later in a tweet, “I should be better than the guys baiting me.” His brother the governor, in an interview on WAMC, blasted a column by Albany Times Union Managing Editor Casey Seiler for what he saw as downplaying ethnic slurs like “dago.” His father, the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, battled anti-discrimination and baseless rumors he had ties to organized crime.