Tish James’s Cuomo report shows the power of #MeToo

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! A new report recommends combining the men’s and women’s Final Fours, Sifan Hassan got knocked down (but got up again), and Letitia James releases a damning report against her one-time political backer. Enjoy your Wednesday.

– The Cuomo report. For five months, New York Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She compiled her findings in a 168-page report published yesterday that concludes that Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women.

“I believe women, and I believe these 11 women,” said James during her press conference. It was a bold statement for the former New York City public advocate who rose to statewide office on a ticket endorsed by Cuomo—and yet didn’t shy away from investigating her former political backer.

The consequences of James’s report were swift: politicians from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to President Joe Biden called for the New York governor’s resignation, even as Cuomo continues to claim there are inaccuracies in the attorney general’s findings.

What those inaccuracies could be isn’t clear. James’s team interviewed 179 people before presenting its findings, which include a “culture of fear, intimidation, and retribution” in the governor’s office; unlawful retaliation against Lindsey Boylan; and violation of federal and state sexual harassment law. In his defense, Cuomo played a montage showing him hugging and kissing other people besides the women who have accused him of harassment, seemingly as a way to claim he’s like this with everybody so it can’t be harassment. (His written rebuttal went even further by including photos of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama embracing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to natural disaster victims.)

Cuomo has resisted demands for his resignation for months now, and it’s not clear if a call from the sitting President to do so will change his mind. But one thing we do know is that Cuomo wouldn’t have been held to account without the efforts of women who spoke out long before his behavior was public knowledge.

James, for her part, won the attorney general seat after the resignation of former AG Eric Schneiderman, who left office after he was accused of physical abuse in 2018 by women including Tanya Selvaratnam. In that way, the #MeToo movement is building on itself; because of Schneiderman’s ouster, James had an opportunity to lead the Cuomo investigation.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe. 

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Staying put. Rep. Cori Bush has been sleeping outside the Capitol for days in protest of the expiration of the pandemic eviction moratorium. (The House left session before taking action on the issue). Now, after her efforts, the Biden administration will enact a new rule preventing people in areas where COVID is rapidly spreading from being evicted from their homes. Politico

- Teaming up. The NCAA hired a law firm to study gender-based inequities in its championships. Now that report found that the association undervalued women's athletics by "tens of millions" and "prioritize[d] Division I men’s basketball over everything else in ways that create, normalize, and perpetuate gender inequities." The report recommends combining the men's and women's Final Fours in the same weekend in the same city to promote more parity. Wall Street Journal

- Game over. There's a management shakeup at Activision Blizzard as the video game publisher faces a gender-bias lawsuit. J. Allen Brack is out as head of Blizzard Entertainment and Jesse Meschuk is no longer senior vice president for global HR. The lawsuit says Activision pays female employees less and gives them fewer opportunities and alleges that past complaints about harassment to executives, including Brack, went unaddressed. The company initially said the lawsuit included distorted and false claims, but now says it will investigate the allegations. WSJ

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: As part of the personnel moves at Activision Blizzard, Jen Oneal will become co-leader of Blizzard, alongside Mike Ybarra; she's the first woman to lead the studio known for World of Warcraft and Diablo.  

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Going for gold, gold, gold. Sifan Hassan fell in the penultimate lap of a women's 1,500-meter race in Tokyo and still won the preliminary heat. Then she won gold in the 5,000-meter race. Yet, there's more for her to do. The runner, an Ethiopian refugee representing the Netherlands, is also seeking gold in the 10,000-meter contest, meaning she's pursuing the most ambitions Olympic 'treble' since 1952. If she makes the finals of every race, she will have run 24,500 meters over eight days. Financial Times

- A unicorn among unicorns. The Indian beauty ecommerce business Nykaa filed for an IPO on Monday that would value the company at $4 billion. Falguni Nayar is the company's founder, and she's a former investment banker familiar with the IPO roadshow. Nykaa would be the first woman-led Indian unicorn to go public. Bloomberg

- Simone's secret gym. Before Simone Biles staged her Olympics comeback on the balance beam, she sought a quiet gym—with soft mats and foam pits—to practice the basics. Juntendo University professor Kazuhiro Aoki got the call seeking access to his school's gym: "This is a complicated matter. But this is for Biles.” WSJ

ON MY RADAR

The girlboss apologia era is upon us Vanity Fair

We still love Lucille Ball, and now she has a podcast debuting on SiriusXM LA Times

Women are the future of space travel Elle

PARTING WORDS

"You’re making history, I’m making history, we’re making history."

- Tamyra Mensah-Stock on facing Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu in the women's light heavyweight gold medal match. Either athlete would've become the first Black woman to win a women's wrestling Olympic gold, but Mensah-Stock, an American, clinched it.