As a co-host on CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast alongside longtime friend Anderson Cooper, a conspicuously inebriated Andy Cohen went off the rails before heralding the arrival of the new year.
The executive producer of Bravo's late-night talk show, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, mocked Ryan Seacrest, who was also ringing in 2022 nearby on behalf of ABC on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve program.
“If you look behind me, you’ll see Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers performing," said Cohen, as Cooper nervously giggled throughout the evening's revelry.
Cohen added of the competing broadcast:
“I’m sorry but if you’re watching ABC, you’re watching nothing.”
As the focus turned to Eric Adams, who was being sworn in as the succeeding Democratic Mayor of New York City, Cohen went on an unfiltered rant aimed at the exiting Mayor, Bill de Blasio.
New Yorkers didn't care much for the unpopular Mayor in local and national politics, but New York locals have a reputation for not being embracing of their Mayor, whoever it may be, anyway.
If alcohol acts as a truth serum, its effect on Cohen was on full display when voicing his strong opinion about the 109th Mayor of New York City.
“Watching Mayor de Blasio do his ‘victory lap’ dance after four years of the crappiest job as the mayor of New York!" exclaimed a visibly blitzed Cohen.
"The only thing that the Democrats and the Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been, so sayonara, sucka!”
"It’s done. What’s done is done. I liked ‘sayonara sucker.'”
Some of his fans were left in stitches after Cohen's intoxicated rant.
Others failed to detect any levity in his behavior.
Cohen admitted he was "overserved" in a tweet the following morning.
A couple of days after the ball had dropped and the last of the confetti was swept from the streets of Times Square, Cohen also cleared the air about his comments from the New Year's Eve broadcast.
Whether or not he was prompted by mea culpa or online backlash, he expressed his one regretful comment on Monday's episode of his Radio Andy talk show.
You can hear the clip of his apology, here.
“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,” he said, adding:
“And I really regret saying that. I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it. I just kept talking and I shouldn’t have, and I felt bad about that.”
He did not express any sense of remorse for his true thoughts about de Blasio, however.
“So that is the only thing. It’s the only thing,” he said.
Cohen added he was criticizing Journey–saying the classic rock band known for hits like, "Don't Stop Believin'," and whose current frontman is Arnel Pineda–was "not Journey" without original lead singer Steve Perry.
Cohen reportedly said on the New Year's Eve special:
"We were doused with confetti from fake Journey on ABC. If it's not Steve Perry, it doesn't count! You get it? It's not Journey!"
"It's propaganda! It's propaganda! It's not Journey! It's not Journey! No, that was not Journey. Steve Perry is Journey."
On Monday's Radio Andy, Cohen explained:
"I was continuing the Journey rant and I just kept talking and I shouldn't have and I felt bad about that, so that is the only thing."
He also addressed the headlines indicating he was trashing Seacrest, saying:
"The headlines about Ryan Seacrest are all like I trashed Ryan Seacrest and I really… I hope he hears the clip."
Responding to the backlash, a CNN spokesperson issued a statement, saying:
"Andy said something he shouldn't have on live TV. We've addressed it with him and look forward to having him back again next year."
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