Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen attend the Times Square New Year’s Eve 2026 Celebration on Dec. 31, 2025 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin / Getty Images)
By Samuel Short January 1, 2026 at 8:53am
As if CNN was not bad enough, it’s now become a pastime for their New Years Eve hosts to become inebriated on live television and going on a number of rants involving the sexually explicit to add to their usual politically inept talking points.
CNN host Anderson Cooper and co-host Andy Cohen were noticeably over the limit to drive as they welcomed in 2026.
Why the network continues to allow this is totally perplexing.
One moment featured Cohen ranting about outgoing Mayor Eric Adams.
Andy Cohen‘s drunk political rant on CNN pic.twitter.com/OR30VaQacq
— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) January 1, 2026
AOL reports this was just after midnight with Cohen saying, “He got his pardons… I’m just saying, great. You got your pardon,” with Cooper trying to cut him off.
Although President Donald Trump did not issue a pardon to Adams, per AOL, this appears to be in reference to the Department of Justice directing Southern District of New York to drop federal charges against him.
“We’ll settle with what we have,” Cohen continued.
It’s odd Cooper kept talking over him and trying to stop his cohost.
Whatever commentary Cohen was giving on New York politics while drunk, it was probably up to CNN’s standards when airing one of their usual shows.
Another moment featured on social media platform X had the two speaking with soon-to-be former late night host Stephen Colbert.
Here Cohen produced more CNN appropriate commentary regardless of his blood alcohol level.
He told Colbert, “You’re a martyr of free speech and everything right in the world and we love you very much.” Again — at risk of over-stressing this point — drunk or not, this doesn’t seem to deviate much from what CNN would tell viewers during a serious news segment.
Andy Cohen calls Stephen Colbert “a martyr of free speech and everything right in the world.” pic.twitter.com/YvJyS9I9Hy
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 1, 2026
Other clips were just outright disgusting with one having Cooper read a sexually explicit song by Taylor Swift and Cohen talking about a TV show featuring two gay hockey players, “Heated Rivalry.”
A painful 20 minute clip of the duo can be found here that will likely plague viewers with even more awful moments. Click at your own risk.
As we head into 2026, what is the direction of this network?
If CNN is looking to redeem itself anytime soon after almost a decade of functioning as the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party, it isn’t doing a great job by complimenting that with drunken debauchery and general nonsense.
You can’t take the network seriously for its political takes, and they don’t take themselves seriously otherwise.
In 2026, CNN only serves as a source of mockery and criticism towards what was once a trust source in news.
Sam Short is an Instructor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
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