Andy Cohen isn’t sorry for party rocking on New Year’s Eve
Cohen went viral for apparently getting drunk during CNN's New Year’s Eve coverage, but has no regrets
Seemingly nobody had more fun on this most recent New Year’s Eve than Andy Cohen. The Bravolevity co-hosted CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage from Times Square with Anderson Cooper, and apparently got hilariously drunk to ring in 2022. While many of us were stuck at home either avoiding the Omicron variant or recovering from it, Cohen made viewers feel like they were on a night out with a messy friend.
He goaded Cooper into taking copious tequila shots. He talked shit about former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and told Mark Zuckerberg to “stop messing with our minds.” He took some jabs at ABC’s New Year’s Eve coverage, saying, “If you look behind me, you will see Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers performing. If you’re watching ABC, you’re watching nothing.” He also went on a rant about how Journey—who performed that night—were “fake Journey” without Steve Perry as a vocalist. Cooper tried his best to be a good, responsible friend and calm Cohen down, but to no avail. It was glorious.
While some party poopers complained about Cohen’s delightful messiness, CNN confirmed Cohen isn’t going to get fired, and will come back to host the next NYE, with hopefully just as many tequila shots. Though Cohen admits he regrets what he said about ABC because he’s pals with Seacrest, he went on The Howard Stern Show to say he’s not sorry for party rocking.
“Listen, I will not be shamed for having fun on New Year’s Eve,” he told Stern. “That’s why I’m there. That’s why they bring me there. It’s a four-and-a-half hour show. The booze started kicking in around 11:30 [p.m.], so everyone’s focusing on the bereft 45 minutes or hour we’re on the air. I kicked into high gear within 45 minutes left, so we had done fifteen interviews before that point.”
He continued, “You know, I won’t be shamed for it. I had a blast. Anderson had a blast. We left and we were like, ‘That was fun. What a fun New Year’s Eve.’ No apologies for my drinking on New Year’s Eve. None.” When asked if anyone at CNN complained, he said, “The only direction that I get every year from [president of CNN] Jeff Zucker is ‘have fun.’” At least CNN knows to give people what they want.