A Manhattan man has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for harassing CNN host Anderson Cooper.
Gerald Hurt, 52, showed up on Cooper’s doorstep at least four times between August and December 2022 and tried to break into the house.
Cooper took out a restraining order, but Hurt ignored it. He was charged with eight misdemeanor counts of criminal harassment, threatening and trespassing, as well as criminal contempt for violating the restraining order.
Hurt also received a five-year restraining order against Cooper.
Hurt is the second man to be convicted of stalking the news anchor: In 2014, a schizophrenic Queens man who insisted he was in love with Cooper was sentenced to a year of psychiatric treatment and five years probation.
Gerald Hurt, 52, was sentenced to 30 days in jail on Friday for harassing Anderson Cooper
Cooper and Maisani, a French nightlife entrepreneur, split in 2018 but co-parent two sons – Wyatt, born in 2020, and Sebastian, born in 2022
Alex Hausner terrorized Cooper for six years, from 2007 to 2013.
During a hearing in January 2015, Hausner told the judge that Cooper and his partner Benjamin Maisani were stalking him and that he feared for his life.
Maisani, a French bar owner and businessman, and Cooper met in 2009 and confirmed their relationship in 2015.
They separated in 2018, but when Cooper’s first son, Wyatt, was born in 2020, he announced that he and Maisani would be co-parenting.
Maisani is also co-parenting Cooper’s youngest son, Sebastian, born in 2022.
Hurt’s interactions with Cooper began on August 21, 2022, when he arrived at the West Village reporter’s home at 10 a.m. and said, “I have a package for Anderson Cooper.”
The woman who answered the door repeatedly asked him to leave, but, according to court documents, he started screaming and headed for the door with ‘hands in the air and both in a ball “.
Hurt is pictured in court on Friday with his lawyers
He was ordered to stay away from Cooper for the next five years
Cooper and Maisani are seen with their sons Wyatt and Sebastian
Wyatt Cooper, who turned three in April, is named after his grandfather
A month later, on September 21, 2022, Hurt returned at 3 p.m. to find Cooper at home – who asked him to leave several times.
Hurt pushed with all his weight against the front door and reached around the door with his hands to try to grab Cooper, according to court documents.
On Nov. 16, 2022, just before 10 a.m., Maisani found Hurt on the doorstep and repeatedly asked him to leave, according to the complaint.
Hurt told him, “I’m here to see Anderson Cooper.” Hurt then gave Masiani his number, for Cooper to contact him.
Finally, at 10 p.m. one evening in December, Hurt returned and told Maisani, “I’m here to see Anderson Cooper.”
Maisani replied, “We have a restraining order against you.” Hurt said, “Oh, you mean the fake order?” Hurt was arrested on December 15. Cooper did not address the incident.
