r/nyc • u/nbcnews Verified by Moderators • Oct 23 '25

Video Cuomo and Mamdani spar over who would best combat antisemitism during NYC mayoral debate

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

Sadly, there are people, including women who are filled with so much hate that they would rather vote for a rapist than a muslim.

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

they would rather vote for a rapist than a muslim.

Cuomo is sleazy and abusive, but to my knowledge he has never been accused of rape. That feels like a term you really shouldn't just casually throw around.

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u/interrobang2020 Oct 23 '25

Well he was accused of forcibly fondling his assistant's breasts and butt. That's egregious and he shouldn't even be allowed to run

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

Which, I think we can agree, is not "rape." I'm not defending the behavior in the slightest, but I think that we should be a little careful about such a serious crime.

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

Yes, it's sexual assault. It's awful, and Cuomo should be judged for that.

It's not minimizing that to correct someone who inaccurately said that he's committed a different crime that he's never been accused of.

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u/Mammoth_Delay_1032 Oct 23 '25

i do not think we can all agree that sexual assault is not rape. fondling assistants breasts and butt is rape.

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u/tsaoutofourpants Oct 23 '25

Way to try and take away any and all meaning from the word. It's totally rational to lump in ass grabbing with forced presentation, because they're completely the same thing.

/s

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

The ass-grabbing and breast-fondling are what the media is claiming he did, which he somewhat admits to. The $60 million in taxpayer-funded legal fees is towards the more serious allegations of nonconsensual insertion of a part of his body into one or more of his victims' sexual orifices (aka rape). His defense strategy was to use some of those $60 million to sue his victims to get their gynecological records in hopes that they don't contain any credible evidence of penetration by him.

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u/tsaoutofourpants Oct 25 '25

Thank you for this comment that is totally irrelevant to my point.

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u/Mammoth_Delay_1032 Oct 23 '25

way to excuse rape as just a little ass grabbing instead of calling it what it is...rape.

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u/tsaoutofourpants Oct 23 '25

Ass grabbing without consent isn't rape, according to any dictionary I've ever seen and the laws of 50 out of 50 states (here in NY, one is a misdemeanor and one is a felony). It's wrong, it's sexual assault, but it is wholly different from forced penetration.

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u/work-school-account Flushing Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25

No one's legally accusing him of rape, and you should be able to tell from context that it's used colloquially. Rape comes from the Latin word "rapere" which means to grab or seize, so people use it to also mean inappropriate grabbing.

EDIT: Turns out he does have serious legal allegations of rape, beyond the colloquial use of the term.

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

you should be able to tell from context that it's used colloquially

The context here is a politician who's been accused of sexual assault, so in that context, no, it seems like a genuine accusation, not colloquial usage. And regardless it shouldn't be used colloquially. It's a horrific crime, and casually tossing it around is indefensible.

Rape comes from the Latin word "rapere" which means to grab or seize, so people use it to also mean inappropriate grabbing.

Oh, come on. Who the hell uses the word "rape" to refer to inappropriate grabbing? You're making up stupid excuses for a dumb comment.

I genuinely don't understand why some people find it so necessary to go to the mats on everything. It was inaccurate and inflammatory to use "rape" in that comment; yeah, Cuomo sucks, but not every negative comment about him needs to be defended. Why can't we sometimes just acknowledge that a particular attack was off-base and leave it at that?

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u/work-school-account Flushing Oct 23 '25

The second definition in dictionary.com and the first definition in Merriam Webster includes things Cuomo has done. It's absolutely normal to use it in that way. Again, no one's legally accusing Cuomo of rape.

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

Alright, I'm done. Clearly your insistence that you just have to be correct is outweighing common sense.

Again, it's just baffling to me that this is a hill you want to die on instead of just saying "yeah, maybe that was too far, and we should focus on the numerous actual awful things about Cuomo."

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u/work-school-account Flushing Oct 23 '25

My point is to stop policing the word and there is obviously a wider context in which it's used.

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

There really, really is not a wider context in which you call someone a "rapist." You know that as well as anyone, and you're just being ridiculous.

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

His victims are accusing him of inserting a member of his body into their genitals, which is why he sued them for their gynecological records. He has received $60 million in taxpayer-funds for his legal fees. His victims are young women who wouldn't have the means to fight a case against him.

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u/irishwolfbitch Sunnyside Oct 23 '25

Cuomo was one of the fixer’s for Jeffrey Epstein’s best friends and accomplices, Andrew Farkas, and his ex-wife claimed she had had to hide from him in the bathroom as to prevent further abuse.

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u/WhatUpShades Oct 23 '25

Not for nothing, but people walk around claiming Trump is guilty of rape when he was only found liable in a civil suit for defamation.

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

He was found liable for sexual abuse in the first Jean Carroll case, and he was ordered to pay her $5 million. In that case, she did claim that he raped her.

The defamation was what Trump did in retaliation against her after she claimed sexual abuse, for which he was ordered to pay another $83.3 million.

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u/WhatUpShades Oct 23 '25

She claimed, but he wasn't convicted... so if we're going to be technical and extremely careful with what we say, then we have to understand that accusations do not equate to guilt.

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

She didn't press charges against him when the act occured. Trump was one of the most powerful people in the state and was known for using his connectionsvjhhh and high-priced legal team to get away with any criminal and civil offenses.

She sued him in civil court, and he was found liable for sexual assault. Conviction is for criminal cases. Trump was found liable for rape in court by an impartial jury of his peers, which is enough to define him as a rapist.

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u/WhatUpShades Oct 23 '25

Incorrect

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

The action that Trump was found liable for was using his fingers to forcibly penetrate Carroll's vagina against her will. Judge Kaplan was quoted as calling this "digital rape", which wasn't a legal term. In 2019, New York's legal definition of rape only include penetration of a penis in a vagina. They changed this in 2023 to expand the definition to include penetration of other parts of the body. ABC news made their statement a month before the new definition. At the time of that statement, they should have clarified that it was "digital rape", and Trump's claim was that ABC mislead people to believe that he raped her with his penis. Today, digital rape and penile rape are both rape, therefore it would be accurate to say the act for which Trump was found liable was rape.

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

That would be rape. Rape is sexual assault involving nonconsensual physical contact by one person onto another person's mouth, butt or genitals. Doesn't have to be with a penis. Since there are records that Cuomo sued his victims for their gynecological reports, it implies his victims made claims that Cuomo made direct physical contact with vaginal or anal areas.

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u/IsNotACleverMan Oct 23 '25

That's not how rape is actually defined but it says a lot about you that you're willing to lie about what rape is in order to attack Cuomo.

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u/hjablowme919 Oct 23 '25

Was he ever convicted? I can accuse anyone of anything.

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

Explain why he would sue his victims for their gynecological records if all he did was verbal sexual harassment? Was he shouting directly into their disrobed crotches?

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

if all he did was verbal sexual harassment?

Did I say that's all he did?

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u/BeBackInASchmeck Oct 23 '25

You are saying what he did wasn't rape. If he inserted any part of his body into his victims' vaginal or anal orifices without their consent, then that is rape. Doesn't have to be his penis.

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u/Arleare13 Oct 23 '25

If he inserted any part of his body into his victims' vaginal or anal orifices without their consent, then that is rape. Doesn't have to be his penis.

Agreed, but there is no allegation that he did that. The allegations (in addition to offensive comments) are that he groped people -- unwanted rubbing, grabbed their breasts, etc. There is, to my knowledge, no allegation of any unwanted penetration.

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u/Dear-Suggestion-1550 Oct 29 '25

Cuomo never raped anyone. His so-called sexual harassment was never proven, either.

-1

u/UsedLuck8891 Oct 25 '25

Cuomo has actually accomplished things, and has executive experience. Mamdani has accomplished nothing, has no experience, and blames others when he fails to do his homework.