CNN backs host Andy Cohen after ‘stupid and drunk’ Ryan Seacrest comments live on air

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CNN has backed host Andy Cohen after he slammed rival Ryan Seacrest and his team live on air on New Year’s Eve.

Cohen, who seemingly drank multiple shots with Anderson Cooper during the broadcast, referred to Seacrest’s ABC broadcast on the night of 31 December as “[a bunch] 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,” the 53-year-old radio and television talk show host told CNN viewers.

Cohen later said he “regrets” slamming the ABC broadcast, adding that “Seacrest is a great guy”.

“The only thing that I regret saying, the only thing is that I slammed ABC’s [broadcast of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve], and I really like Ryan Seacrest and he’s a great guy,” Cohen said on his Radio Andy talk show on Monday (3 January).

“I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it. And it was, it was, 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 [I regret]. It’s the only thing,” he said.

CNN has also addressed Cohen’s comments in a statement to US news outlets.

“Andy said something he shouldn’t have on live TV,” it said. “We’ve addressed it with him and look forward to having him back again next year.”

Cohen said he was joking with his comments about Seacrest, but the headlines that followed were a “problem” when taken out of context.

“The headlines about Ryan Seacrest are all like I trash Ryan Seacrest,” he said. “I’m like, I really, I hope he hears the clip. You know what I mean?”

During his New Year’s Eve joint broadcast, Cohen had also blasted the former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

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It was the night when Mr de Blasio initiated the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square for the last time as mayor. Eric Adams was sworn in as his successor shortly afterwards.

“Just watching Mayor de Blasio doing his victory lap dance after four years of the crappiest job as the mayor of New York,” Cohen had said during the broadcast.

“The only thing that the Democrats and the Republicans can agree on is what a horrible mayor he has been, so sayonara sucker!”

The morning after the broadcast Cohen said in a tweet that he was “a bit over-served last night”.