NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former ABC News executive accused CNN anchor Chris Cuomo of sexually harassing her, describing in an essay published on Friday in the New York Times how he grabbed her buttocks at a colleague’s farewell party in 2005.

Shelley Ross had been Cuomo’s boss when he worked at ABC, a role she had just left when Cuomo embraced her at the party in New York City, according to the essay https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/opinion/chris-cuomo-cnn.html.

Ross says that Cuomo told her, “I can handle this now that I’m not your boss.” He hugged her tightly and then moved his hand to grab her buttock. Ross said that Cuomo pushed her away and then Cuomo noticed her husband watching.

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Cuomo made a statement acknowledging the 2005 incident with Ross and stating that it wasn’t sexual.

Cuomo stated that the episode occurred 16 years ago, in public when Ross was an ABC top executive. She said, “I did apologize to her.”

Ross’s essay reproduced an apologetic email from Cuomo sent within hours of the party in 2005 in which he wrote “i am ashamed…though my hearty greeting was a function of being glad to see you…”

He noted in the email that a Hollywood actor had recently been arrested for similar conduct, and apologized to her husband, writing that as a married man he could empathize with “not liking to see my wife patted as such…”

Ross wrote in her essay that she does not want Cuomo fired, but asked instead that he “journalistically repent” by devoting airtime to reporting on sexual harassment in workplaces.

According to a spokesperson from CNN, Natalie Pahz stated that there was no other comment than what Cuomo had made.