Ryan Seacrest Doesn’t Support Drinking During New Year’s Eve Broadcasts
Photo by Noam Galai/FilmMagic Reading Time: 3 minutes
Ryan Seacrest is gearing up to host Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC for the 18th time this weekend, and he recently weighed in on the topic of hosts drinking during New Year’s Eve broadcasts. CNN is reportedly cutting down on drinking after co-host Andy Cohen made a jab at Seacrest on air last year.
Ryan Seacrest Weighs in on New Year’s Eve Drinking
Last month, Variety reported that CNN would be scaling back on alcohol consumption among its New Year’s Eve hosts. CNN’s chairman and CEO Chris Licht said he believed on-air drinking negatively affected the hosts’ “respectability.”
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Seacrest said he doesn’t “advocate drinking when one is on the air.” He added that “it’s probably a good idea” for CNN to scale back on the alcohol consumption during this year’s broadcast.
“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 continued, seeming to refer to co-hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. “Although the viewers probably wish they would drink more.”
Seacrest named Post Malone as a past New Year’s Eve guest who “was definitely enjoying himself before he went out.” He added that he’s not as good at drinking on the job as others might be, saying, “For me, it’s a little more intense. I prefer not to do that on a live broadcast so I get the countdown right, I don’t want to screw it up.”
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Andy Cohen Insulted Seacrest During Last Year’s Show
During last year’s CNN broadcast, Cohen referred to ABC’s performers as “Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers.” He later blamed alcohol, saying he was “overserved.” Cohen said his jab at Seacrest was “the only thing that I regret” from the broadcast, adding, “And I really like Ryan Seacrest and he’s a great guy and I really regret saying that and I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it.”
“I think they had something to say about my show at one point,” Seacrest told EW, “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.”
He added that New Year’s Rockin’ Eve is “a bigger, broader show and we will not drink until 1:05 in the morning.” Seacrest joked that he might send CNN “some Casa Dragones Tequila just to tempt them while they’re on the air.”
As for Cohen, he told People last month that he still plans to “cocktail it up” during this year’s broadcast. He added, “I think people enjoy seeing me feed Anderson shots and that’s on the menu.”
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