Update, Thursday, December 29 at 8:37 p.m.: Apparently, Andy Cohen has changed his mind about his New Year’s Eve drinking plans. He told “Page Six†that he and Anderson Cooper won’t be taking shots on CNN’s broadcast this weekend after all. “We aren’t drinking, but we’re going to have a BLAST,†he said. According to Variety, CNN’s chairman and CEO told staffers last month that the year-end consumption of alcohol on air wasn’t a good look for the network. Initially, Cohen responded to the report by stating that he wasn’t one of the correspondents being asked to cut the booze. Earlier this week, he told Rolling Stone that he would actually party “even harder†on behalf of his sober coworkers. Perhaps a fellow host helped him reconsider? Ryan Seacrest recently told Entertainment Weekly that he supported CNN ringing in the year with less alcohol. “There’s some pretty respectable people or at least one, right?†Seacrest said. “I think there’s a serious journalist and then a friend of mine who has a lot of fun, but it’s probably a good idea [to scale back].†Cohen previously apologized at the beginning of the year for drunkenly referring to ABC’s New Year’s Eve countdown as Seacrest’s “group of losers.†Maybe that sobering memory ultimately convinced him to sober up.
Original story published November 18, 2022 follows.
You may have feared the worst if you saw the recent headlines about CNN making its New Year’s Eve countdown less boozy this year. But rest assured: Andy Cohen will be getting drunk with Anderson Cooper again. “My only direction is to have fun,†Cohen told People. “That’s what I plan to do and I’m happy to cocktail it up.†It’s become an annual tradition for the CNN crew to get pretty loose on December 31. The often-comedic results — from Cohen throwing shade at ABC’s NYE coverage to Cooper grimacing over tequila shots to “no broke dick†resolutions — are truly the reward we deserve for making it through another year. But according to Variety, CNN’s chairman and CEO told staffers earlier this week that he thinks that on-camera drinking negatively impacts credibility and “respectability.â€
Variety’s report clarifies that Cohen and Cooper will still be allowed to consume alcohol, but Cohen doesn’t want to leave any room for doubt. Although he previously admitted to being “a bit overserved†during last year’s broadcast, he promised during Watch What Happens Live that this time, “Anderson and I are going to party harder than we have ever partied before!†On Twitter, he reiterated, “We will be back. And we will be drunk!†Of course, that does beg the question — if Cooper and Cohen are safe, which correspondents or anchors might be in danger of being asked to sober up? It’s just a hunch, but we get the feeling that Don Lemon won’t be getting another live piercing this year.