When Kathy Griffin got in trouble earlier this year for a poorly received gag about decapitating Donald Trump, the backlash was so swift and severe that CNN almost immediately cut ties with Griffin and fired her from her annual New Year’s Eve co-hosting gig with Anderson Cooper. Griffin apologized and explained that the response was so vicious that it “broke” her, but then she basically said “fuck that” and took her apology back. She still lost the CNN job, though, and now the network has announced that Andy Cohen will be taking her place as Cooper’s co-host on the New Year’s Show.
Cooper is a regular guest on Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live show, and they even discussed Griffin getting fired on an episode in July. In a statement (via Deadline), Cooper said that Cohen is “the life of the party wherever he goes,” so hopefully he’ll be able to bring the same level of Cooper-breaking wacky energy that Griffin always did.