Andy Cohen Asks CNN to Allow Alcohol for New Year's Eve Broadcast

Andy Cohen is asking CNN for a fresh start. The 55-year-old reality TV mogul over-indulged during the network's New Year's Eve broadcast in 2021, and last year the network banned on-air personnel from drinking altogether. In a new interview with E! News, Cohen said he hopes that rule will be changed this year, but warned that he might be drinking either way.

"Hopefully, I will not be sneaking it," Cohen said at BravoCon this week. Cohen has been asked to co-host the New Year's Eve special again this year with network anchor Anderson Cooper, but he said he hasn't heard anything official about the alcohol policy said. He said: "I haven't heard anything yet, but come on, they need to let us drink. It's New Year's Eve. That didn't go well last year in terms of viewer happiness about us drinking. People really cared and I hope CNN gives the people what they want."

On behalf of himself and Cooper – both parents to young children – Cohen said: "Give the daddies some juice." Cohen's son Ben was born in February of 2019, while his daughter Lucy was born in April of 2022 – both via surrogate. Cooper had a son via surrogate in 2020 named Wyatt, and another son in February 2022 named Sebastian.

CNN's end-of-year special is called New Year's Eve Live and it has been a lightning rod for controversy over the last few years. Cooper has co-hosted the show since 2002, and for about a decade he did so with comedian Kathy Griffin. However, Griffin was fired in 2017 after making a controversial joke about then-President Donald Trump on social media. Since then, Cohen has been the co-host, with plenty of CNN reporters and correspondents chiming in as always.

Each year since then there has been at least some public discourse about Griffin and whether she deserved to lose this gig, along with so many others. That means viewers are often comparing Cohen to Griffin, and in 2021, he gave them reason to call his professionalism into question. An over-excited Cohen lashed out at former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on that broadcast while praising controversial incoming Mayor Eric Adams. Even more infamously, he hurled insults at the ABC broadcast New Year's Rockin' Eve, including host Ryan Seacrest. He even took aim at the band Journey, referring to them as "Ryan Seacrest's group of losers that are performing behind us."

Cohen apologized on Instagram the next day, writing: "I was a hair over-served last night, but man did I have fun! I hope you did too." He made a longer statement on his radio show later on, saying: "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, and I really regret saying that, and I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it."

After that, CNN announced that "on-air personnel" would not be allowed to drink during New Year's Eve Live, although they said that the co-hosts, Cooper and Cohen, would be exempt from this rule. Cohen and Cooper actually elected not to drink during the 2022 broadcast by choice, although Cohen promised to "party harder than ever before." Since then CNN has undergone some major changes in 2023, so there's no telling what kind of rules might be in place now. Whatever they are, Cohen has made his intentions clear.