ALBANY - Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a strong rebuke Monday to movies and shows that portray Italians as mobsters after his younger brother and CNN anchor got into a heated argument last week with a man who called him "Fredo" from "The Godfather."

The governor's comments were his first since the incident involving Chris Cuomo after his brother threatened to fight the guy who provoked him with the "Fredo" comment and recorded it, turning it into a viral moment.

The Cuomos and their late father, Mario, the three-term governor, have often taken offense to Italian stereotypes.

"At this time in American society, where you have Jewish people being shot in a synagogue, and you have Latinos being shot in El Paso, there has to be more sensitivity to these stereotypes and discrimination," Andrew Cuomo said on WAMC, a public-radio station in Albany.

"It fuels the hate. Italian Americans are not Mafia. They are not Mafia. Don’t you dare liken my family to the family you saw in 'The Godfather' or 'The Sopranos.'"

The governor said his father had to deal with unfair questions about whether he had Mafia ties because of his heritage.

"Mario Cuomo lived with those rumors of the Mafia. They hurt him. They scarred him," his eldest son said. "Every Italian lives with it. Don’t you glorify it. And don’t you repeat it, and don’t you institutionalize it."

Cuomo's response

Cuomo, 61, wasn't asked specifically by host Alan Chartock about his brother's run-in on Long Island last week, but instead Cuomo took exception to the portrayal of Italian Americans.

After the incident was posted on social media and viewed more than 9 million times, Chris Cuomo, 49, wrote on Twitter that "I should be better than the guys baiting me."

"This happens all the time these days. Often in front of my family. But there is a lesson: no need to add to the ugliness; I should be better than what I oppose," Chris Cuomo wrote.

During his life in public office, Mario Cuomo often tried to fight Italian stereotypes and refused to watch "The Godfather" until late in his life. Fredo is portrayed as the weak son of mob boss Vito Corleone in the movie.

"Every time you say it, you suggest to people that organized crime is Italian," Mario Cuomo said in 1985 about Italians depicted as the Mafia in pop culture.

"It's an ugly stereotype."

More:How Chris Cuomo's family has long fought anti-Italian stereotypes

More: Mario Cuomo remembered fondly for his beliefs

Media criticism

The current governor has picked up the mantle from his father and has railed against how Italians can be depicted.

"My father wouldn’t watch the movie because it was anti-Italian," Andrew Cuomo said Monday. "The stereotype is anti-Italian. I can’t tell you how many times people have come up to me and said, ‘In 'The Godfather,' who are you? Which one are you? Which character are you?’"

On Monday, Cuomo said he took offense to a Sunday column in the "Times Union" in Albany titled "In praise of Fredo Corleone," calling it "really ignorant and insensitive."

Angelo Vivolo, president of the Columbus Heritage Coalition, criticized the column in a letter and in a separate letter knocked a "New York Post" front page last week headlined "GODBOTHER" after the Chris Cuomo dustup.

The paper superimposed Mario Cuomo's face on Vito Corleone's body with the Cuomo brothers at his side.

"There is no other way to describe your choice here as inflammatory and racist," Vivolo wrote.

More:Yes, New Yorkers think Cuomo has improved the state. No, they don’t like his job performance, poll says

More:Watch: Cuomo jokes about little brother Chris Cuomo