Despite CNN’s 2022 mandate that New Year’s Eve Live host Andy Cohen won’t be allowed to drink on air with Anderson Cooper, Cohen bucked the announcement – which is likely solidified after Ryan Seacrest backed the no-booze party.
Cohen went on a messy rant during last year’s New Year’s Eve broadcast, which included a takedown of Mayor Bill De Blasio, but also a shot at Seacrest’s New Year’s Eve broadcast. In the days following New Year’s Eve, Cohen embarked upon a damage control campaign, softening his remarks about De Blasio and Seacrest.
In an effort to get ahead of an unpredictable Cohen, CNN issued a statement that their New Year’s Eve broadcast would be alcohol-free. But Cohen quickly replied on Watch What Happens Live that his goal would still be to get Cooper tipsy.
Now Seacrest is backing CNN’s no-booze New Year’s Eve, joking that the night was hosted by “some pretty respectable people or at least one.”
Andy Cohen insists he will ‘party harder’ with Anderson Cooper on New Year’s Eve
Being told he can’t do what generated significant controversy (and ratings) last year likely dug Cohen further into his resolve. Hours after CNN’s chief Chris Licht said their broadcast would be sober, Cohen launched into the remarks on WWHL‘s “Jackhole of the Day” segment. He featured an article from Variety about a sobered-up New Year’s Eve.
“The article does point out that Anderson and I are still allowed to drink,” Cohen asserted. And then added, “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! Do you understand me?!”
Ryan Seacrest throws some shade at Andy Cohen
But now Seacrest, who hosts Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC, is weighing in on the night. And he even got a little shady when it came to Cohen.
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“I don’t advocate drinking when one is on the air,” he told EW. “I don’t know how that started as a tradition, but it’s probably a good idea [to scale back], CNN. There’s some pretty respectable people or at least one, right?”
“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,” Seacrest continued. “Although the viewers probably wish they would drink more. But I think they had something to say about my show at one point, which was I’m sure from the alcohol because I don’t think they would say what they said about our performers if they weren’t drinking.”
Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper will be ‘tempted’ with tequila, Ryan Seacrest said
Seacrest continued, which means shots fired – literally for Cohen. “But, you know, I think our show’s a bigger, broader show and we will not drink until 1:05 in the morning. Although, I might send them some Casa Dragones Tequila just to tempt them while they’re on the air,” Seacrest added.
The Casa Dragones Tequila gift will probably be welcome. While Cooper tries to toe the line at CNN, Cohen is more than likely to go off the rails – which can’t be bad for CNN’s New Year’s Eve ratings. Before Seacrest made his remarks, Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter that he was serious about partying harder this year.
“What [Chris Licht] said was that he didn’t want the correspondents out there drinking, but that he wanted Anderson [Cooper] and I to do our thing,” he said. “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.”
Cohen also said he tried to make peace with Seacrest over a comment that he says was taken out of context. “I think I sent him a text after, and I think, listen, it was so stupid. It was, as everything is, blown out of proportion and it was clickbait,” he said. Adding that the comment was about the band Journey, not Seacrest.
“And then I wound up kind of in inadvertently, you know, throwing the ABC broadcast under the bus,” Cohen admitted. “But it was really about Journey. It was not a big deal and it was clickbait in its purest sense.”
