The first woman to publicly accuse Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment claimed he once rudely joked that he would “ride” her if she were a dog, according to a new report.
Lindsey Boylan, a former assistant governor, revealed Cuomo’s creepy comment in a lengthy interview with Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker, telling him that Cuomo made the rude joke in 2018 after a meeting at the governor’s mansion.
Boylan, 36, who is one of seven women who brought sexual misconduct allegations against the governor, said he made the comment after Cuomo’s dog, a German shepherd mix named Captain, jumped up and down nearby her.
He said he tried to calm the dog down and then backed off.
Later, Boylan said, Cuomo joked that he would try to “ride” her too if she were a dog.
“I remember feeling grossed out, but also, what nonsense to say in third grade,” Boylan told the magazine.
“I just shrugged,” he said.
A spokesman for the governor did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Boylan first accused Cuomo of sexual harassment in a series of December tweets, then detailed the governor’s alleged behavior in a detailed post on the Medium website.
She alleged that Cuomo kissed her “on the lips” without warning inside his Manhattan office in 2018, and also claimed that the governor asked her to play strip poker a year earlier while on a private plane.
Cuomo has denied the allegations and said he never touched anyone inappropriately.
In the New Yorker interview, Boylan said his former administration boss, Howard Zemsky, once told him that Cuomo was “in love” with her.
He also recalled an extremely toxic workplace during the government, where aides were reduced to tears and their political opponents were the target of childish games.
She recalled a time when Cuomo allegedly made fun of an assistant’s haircut, leaving her in tears.
The governor also once poked fun at the weight of a former staff member, Boylan said.
“It was toxic, and particularly for women,” he said in the interview of his time in the governor’s office.
Boylan also said that Cuomo, a longtime political enemy of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, had a bullseye with the mayor’s face on the grounds of the governor’s mansion.
“I couldn’t believe how cheeky he was,” he told the magazine.