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Andrew Cuomo’s phone lit up with Venmo notifications in late December 2020, as COVID-19 cases surged across the country. Someone was asking for $2,000. Their justification: “You owe us this encouragement.”
The request was no doubt intended for then-Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, but instead landed in the inbox of a college student in Rochester who has the same name — and is well acquainted with such mix-ups.
“I’ve been struggling with this my whole life,” said Cuomo, a 26-year-old engineer from Connecticut. Independent“I finally got a chance to tell someone about it.”
A victim of pure coincidence, he has seen his identity entangled with that of the former governor. Online, they are being bombarded with misdirected messages, including hate mail filled with profanity. Personally, he has faced awkward questions about family relationships.
But, after the politician’s crushing defeat in the New York City mayoral election yesterday, the college student is hoping for some relief.
This bizarre case of the mixed Cuomos – seemingly taken from the pages of a Patricia Highsmith novel – is not entirely unprecedented.
In October, Times of London accidentally interviewed bill deblasioInstead of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Long Island wine importer traffic lightAnd in 2015, the names of two people came ted cruz And a man named Jeb Bush complained about what was wrong with the Texas senator and former Florida governor, newsweek Informed.
For Cuomo, the confusion has largely spread on social media. Over the years, he has received dozens of direct messages to the Empire State politician, who served as governor from 2011 to 2021, when he resigned amid the allegations. sexual misconductLater that year, the state Attorney General issued a report concluding that New York officers were too low Covid-19 deaths In the nursing home.
In January 2018, an X user simply wrote, “You are a piece of s–.”
“He was probably one of my favorites,” Cuomo said.
Some comments were more positive, with users writing in February 2018, “I hope you’re running for POTUS” and “I was a big fan of your dad,” referring to former three-term Governor Mario Cuomo.
Meanwhile, other people came with specific requests. In December 2017 – when Cuomo was a freshman at the Rochester Institute of Technology – an X user asked him sign a bill Nurses are required to obtain a bachelor’s degree. That same month, another man wrote to him attempting to lease Hither Hills State Park in Long Island.
Cuomo, who grew up in Oxford, Connecticut, said that when people meet him, they often ask if he is related to the former governor, whose televised pandemic briefing Made him famous at national level.
In his high school, a history teacher asked the question on the very first day of class. When he started his internship in New York, his boss immediately asked the same thing.
“We said hello and as he led me to my table, he said ‘So I have to ask you, are you related?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God,'” Cuomo said.
His father, who grew up in the tri-state area, faced a similar experience, Cuomo said, noting that “everybody always called him Mario.” But, as far as he knows, his family has blood ties to the more famous Cuomo clan.
However, not all personal interactions have been negative. Cuomo recalled one particular night at a bar in New York. After handing over his credit card, he watched the bartender check it. Then, recognizing the name, he started spreading it around to show other patrons.
“He gave me some free drinks that night,” Cuomo said, laughing.
But, with the former governor losing the election Zohran Mamdani Tomorrow, Cuomo hopes these strange incidents will subside “a little bit.”
“It depends on how much he stays in the news,” he said. “After he resigned in 2021, the messages definitely went down.”
“Although the joke among my friends will probably never die down,” he said.
What did he say on the election results? Was he disappointed that his namesake had lost?
“I’m not very interested in politics,” Cuomo admitted, though he added, “I’m surprised they let him run again because I know he’s kind of infamous.”