CNN/YouTube Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper take a shot on CNN's New Year's Eve show.
Andy Cohen could be making a big change to his New Year’s Eve plans. The “Watch What Happens Live” host will still team up with pal Anderson Cooper to host CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve broadcast, but this year the duo will not be throwing back shots – at least according to Cohen’s latest update.
In a statement to Page Six on December 29, 2022, Cohen said that he and Cooper will not be drinking on-air this year as they did last New Year’s Eve.
“We aren’t drinking, but we’re going to have a BLAST,” Cohen told Page Six.
Cohen’s sober update is a big departure from recent comments he made about partying hard while hosting CNN’s NYE broadcast.
Here’s what you need to know:
Andy Cohen Previously Promised to Party Harder Than Ever
Cohen has been co-hosting CNN’s New year’s Eve broadcast with Cooper since 2017. In 2021, the duo made headlines for their on-air drinking. According to Bravo, Cohen revealed he drank De Nada tequila and the Japanese shochu brand Mujen throughout the live broadcast. While on the air, Cohen dissed ABC’s long-running ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” with Ryan Seacrest, and he also blasted outgoing NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio, calling him the “crappiest” mayor in New York City history.
Amid Cohen’s antics, some viewers called for him to be fired from the CNN New Year’s Eve show, but a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the Bravo host would be back to co-host with Cooper on December 31, 2022.
On the November 16, 2022, episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” Cohen vowed to drink as much as ever as he co-hosts this year’s New Year’s Eve show.
“I just want you to know Anderson and I are going to party harder than we have ever partied before on New Year’s Eve!” he screamed. “Do you understand me?!”
He also told The Hollywood Reporter that nothing about CNN’s NYE celebration would change this year. “[CNN CEO Chris Licht] said he didn’t want the correspondents out there drinking, but that he wanted Anderson and I to do our thing,” Cohen stated. “So I’m happy to do our thing. My only directive for years on CNN has been to have fun on New Year’s Eve, and that is absolutely what I plan to do.”
More recently, the dad of two told Rolling Stone that he’s ready to have “fun” as a “guest” on CNN and “kind of torch the place” while he’s there. “My job is to be a party ringleader for everyone watching us on New Year’s Eve,” Cohen cracked. “And that is what I will continue to do.”
Andy Cohen Admitted He Had One Regret About New Year’s Eve 2021
CNN/YouTubeAndy Cohen and Anderson Cooper.
Cohen has offered no apologies for his past NYE behavior, but he admitted he did regret the comments he made about ABC’s show last year.
During the 2021 broadcast, Cohen made a crack about one of ABC’s musical performances, the rock band Journey and the group’s replacement of original lead singer Steve Perry. “There’s smoke coming from Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers that are performing behind us. I mean with all due, if you’ve been watching ABC tonight, you’ve seen nothing. I’m sorry, it’s true,” Cohen said, adding that viewers were watching “fake Journey.”
In January 2022 on his Sirius XM show, “Radio Andy,” Cohen said he regretted his comment about ABC’s show, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2022, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“The only thing that I regret saying, the only thing is that I slammed the ABC broadcast, and I really like Ryan Seacrest, and he’s a great guy,” Cohen said in January 2022. “And I really regret saying that, and I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it. I was continuing the Journey rant and I kept talking and I shouldn’t have, I felt bad about that. That is what I absolutely, that I really regret. I really do.”
As for Seacrest, he has publicly denounced CNN’s on-air drinking. In a December 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Seacrest said he doesn’t “advocate drinking when one is on the air” and he questioned CNN’s annual party night with Cohen and Cooper.
“I don’t know how that started as a tradition,” the “American Idol” host said.
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Andy Cohen Changes His Tune on New Year’s Eve Broadcast