Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest are celebrating the holidays in style. To celebrate National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, the hosts of Live with Kelly and Ryan spent their most recent installment paraded a number of atrocious holiday-themed sweaters. When Seacrest brought up that the sweater-centric day had only become official as of 2011, Ripa gushed about her life-long obsession with the wintertime wardrobe staple.
“If you’ve grown up in my house, you always had a holiday sweater,” she said, via People. “We would never call them ugly sweaters because we wore them year-round.”
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After the show concluded, the Live with Kelly and Ryan Instagram account filled up with photos and videos showing off the sweaters. It wasn’t just the hosts getting in on the fun, as both Ripa and Seacrest judged audience members on who dressed the most Christmas-y.
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Once a dreaded obligation to wear during the holidays, ugly Christmas sweaters have experienced a real comeback in recent years, including a now eight-year-old national holiday.
Last year, a photograph of Ryan Reynolds in a gaudy Christmas sweater went viral after it was made to look like he was “pranked” into wearing it by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Earlier today, Jackman brought the sweater back in another Instagram post almost exactly one year later. Reynolds did the same, announcing he’d be matching all donations to the SickKids Foundation from now until Christmas time.
Earlier this month, Walmart found itself in some hot water after a third-party vendor on their Canadian website was selling some Christmas sweaters that made a not-too-subtle drug reference. Made by FUN Wear, the blue sweatshirt featured a cartoonish Santa Claus/snowman hybrid sitting in front of a table with three lines of cocaine and the phrase “Let it Snow.”
Following the outcry, Walmart released a statement on the matter.
“These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website,” it read. “We apologize for any unintended offense this may have caused.”
