Ryan Seacrest Shades Andy Cohen Over Drunken New Year's Eve Antics

With New Year’s Eve celebrations coming up, Ryan Seacrest is throwing some subtle shade at Andy Cohen over last year’s dueling broadcast shenanigans.

In case you missed it, Cohen and Anderson Cooper rung in 2022 over at CNN with a hefty helping of holiday cheer (read: booze), helping to keep the mood light and breezy with an occasional veering into enjoyably chaotic mess.

Things got a little dicey at one point when Cohen opted to bash ABC’s traditional “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” calling them host “Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers that are performing behind us.”

“I mean, with all due [respect], if you’ve been watching ABC tonight, you’ve seen nothing. I’m sorry,” he said.

Cohen later admitted he regretted that statement and rather likes Seacrest, but the longtime ABC host might still be harboring a bit of ill will over what went down.

CNN’s new CEO is putting a stop to correspondents and anchors drinking on or off camera during the broadcast, according to a report last month, fearing it damages the “respectability” of the network.

And Seacrest recently told Entertainment Weekly that he thinks that’s the right move.

“I don’t advocate drinking when one is on the air. I don’t know how that started as a tradition, but it’s probably a good idea [to scale back], CNN,” he said. “There’s some pretty respectable people or at least one, right?”

He also specifically addressed Cohen’s call out, saying that he didn’t “think they would say what they said about our performers if they weren’t drinking.”

“But, you know, I think our show’s a bigger, broader show and we will not drink until 1:05 in the morning. Although, I might send them some Casa Dragones Tequila just to tempt them while they’re on the air,” he added.

Technically, as co-hosts, Cooper and Cohen aren’t being forbidden from drinking during CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast, although it seems likely they might be asked to cut back. What we’ll really be losing from the new alcohol rules at the network is Don Lemon’s increasingly wild antics over the years, from getting his ear pierced live on air back in 2017 to his “you can kiss my behind” rant as the calendar switched over last year.

Will some sort of drunken antics still ensue despite the new rules? One can only hope. It’s hard to imagine anyone is tuning in to any New Year’s Eve broadcast for respectability. Sorry Seacrest, we’ll take the mess any day!