Andy Cohen Confirms CNN New Year’s Return With Anderson Cooper

Andy Cohen and his tequila are returning to cohost New Year’s Eve Live with Anderson Cooper.

Speaking with Variety in an interview published on Saturday, October 26, Cohen, 55, confirmed he’d be returning to host CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live with Cooper, 57, for the 2024-25 broadcast — and they’ll definitely be drinking.

“Yes! You bet,” Cohen told the outlet. “After what Anderson did in that hurricane, I’m not only giving him tequila, I’m throwing it at him.”

Cohen was referring to Cooper’s coverage of Hurricane Milton in Bradenton, Florida, where he was struck by flying debris while reporting on-location earlier this month. At the time, some fans joked on social media that Cooper’s experience earned him the right to drink on air with Cohen during their 2024 New Year’s Eve special. (CNN previously banned the duo from doing so in 2023.)

“CNN had better let Anderson Cooper black out on New Year’s Eve for this,” one X user wrote. Another shared, “Watching Anderson Cooper earn his NYE party.”

The Real Housewives producer took over cohost duties for New Year’s Eve Live during the 2017-18 broadcast, replacing Kathy Griffin and joining Cooper in Times Square to ring in the New Year. It was this show where Cohen also, famously, introduced shots of tequila “at the top of every hour.”

Cohen has since returned as cohost every year, and social media users have enjoyed poking fun at his drunken antics and Cooper’s facial expressions as he attempts to down the tequila. However, during the 2021-22 show, Cohen, who was admittedly drunk at the time, threw shade at Ryan Secreast’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest.

“If you look behind me, you’ll see Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers performing,” Cohen said at the time. “I’m sorry but if you’re watching ABC, you’re watching nothing.”

After Cohen’s remarks, CNN chose to scale back on on-air alcohol consumption for its correspondents. Cohen later apologized for his comments, even squashing his beef with Seacrest during a September 2024 episode of Watch What Happens Live.

However, leading up to the 2022-23 show, it was reported that CNN was looking for a drier New Year’s Eve Live. In November 2022, Cohen clarified with The Hollywood Reporter that CNN chairman Chris Licht “didn’t want the correspondents out there drinking, but that he wanted Anderson and I to do our thing.”

He said, “My only directive for years on CNN has been to have fun on New Year’s Eve, and that is absolutely what I plan to do.”