Ryan Seacrest Praises CNN for Banning Alcohol on New Year’s Eve After Getting Blasted by Drunk Andy Cohen Last Year

Ryan Seacrest hates fun, apparently. The host and radio personality is all for CNN’s new alcohol policy on New Year’s Eve, which requests that anchors abstain from drinking while reporting that day. This couldn’t possibly have anything to do with Andy Cohen drunkenly blasting him on live TV last year, could it???

Ahead of his own annual NYE broadcast, Seacrest weighed in on the competition in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The man who was called a “loser” by Cohen told the outlet “it’s probably a good idea” to ask CNN anchors not to imbibe as they ring in 2023.

“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. There’s some pretty respectable people or at least one, right? I think there’s a serious journalist and then a friend of mine who has a lot of fun, but it’s probably a good idea,” Seacrest said.

Seacrest admitted, “Although the viewers probably wish they would drink more,” before vaguely mentioning last year’s incident, in which Cohen described him and his coworkers from Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve as “a group of losers.”

“But I think they had something to say about my show at one point, which was I’m sure from the alcohol because, I don’t think they would say what they said about our performers if they weren’t drinking,” Seacrest said, referring to Cohen bashing him and his ABC colleagues. “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.”

Variety reported in November that CNN would be markedly less boozy this year after network chairman and CEO Chris Licht asked staffers during a town hall not to drink on or off camera while working on Dec. 31. The outlet reported, “Licht told employees he felt on-camera drinking eroded the credibility of CNN personnel and damaged the ‘respectability’ they may enjoy among viewers.”

However, two stars of CNN’s new year’s coverage are exempt from the rule. Cohen, who co-hosts the annual broadcast with Anderson Cooper, revealed on Watch What Happens Live that the duo can drink as much as they please this year.

“Anderson and I are going to party harder than we have ever partied before on New Year’s Eve,” he told his audience. “Do you understand me?”

Watch out, Seacrest.