Let Them Drink! It’s Been a YEAR and Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, and Don Lemon Should Be Able to Let Loose During CNN’s NYE Special

Courtesy CNN

The Warner Bros. Discovery merger has wrought massive changes within CNN, from the shuttering of the short-lived CNN+ streaming service to layoffs to schedule shifts both temporary and more permanent, and the network’s New Year’s Eve coverage has not been spared.

New CEO Chris Licht has decreed that CNN’s on-air personalities will no longer booze it up during their New Year’s Eve broadcast, telling employees at a town hall meeting last month “he felt on-camera drinking eroded the credibility of CNN personnel and damaged the ‘respectability’ they may enjoy among viewers.”

The reports originally said that the hosting duo of Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper would be the only CNN folks permitted to imbibe, but Cohen told Page Six this week that he and Cooper would stay sober. “We aren’t drinking, but we’re going to have a BLAST,” he said.

That, dear reader, is a real shame.

To be clear, I am not taking the position that alcohol is needed to have fun on New Year’s Eve or any other time — people have perfectly valid reasons for avoiding imbibing and it’s lame and immature to attempt to pressure anyone into drinking, period — but the CNN crew have had an absolute blast during their past broadcasts from Times Square and there simply isn’t a good reason to deny them their fun this year.

Various semi-intoxicated antics have gifted us with multiple viral moments over the years, from Cooper’s theatrical reaction to a tequila shot (“It’s like burning your lungs!”) to Cohen’s exuberant “Sayonara, Sucka!” farewell to outgoing NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. In 2016, Don Lemon memorably downed some tequila before getting his ear pierced live on air and then launching into a rant about what an “awful” year it had been.

The blunt fact about alcohol consumption is that it does not treat us all equally. Some people take a bit of cheer from the “liquid courage,” some are more relaxed, some might engage in potentially embarrassing but otherwise harmless karaoke or awkward dance moves, while others, unfortunately, become more likely to be belligerent — or worse, violent.

But here’s where CNN has an advantage of hours of footage from multiple years of broadcasts: they know how their people react to booze, and it’s some good, silly fun — which makes great television.

Sensible precautions should, of course, be employed, such as encouraging anyone who is drinking to rotate some Gatorade and water into their consumption. There’s a great opportunity for the network to promote a public safety message too by pointing out that the CNN people will not be driving after their festivities. Heck, get Uber or Lyft to sign on as co-sponsors next year.

CNN, under Licht’s leadership, is trying to rebrand itself as a less partisan outlet focused on serious news. That doesn’t mean that the on-air personalities need to be robots.

Marketers use a “Q score” to calculate a person’s level of celebrity, a figure that incorporates both recognizability and appeal. Dolly Parton, for example, is both very famous and is widely beloved for her charity work and effervescent personality; she would have an extremely high Q score. Kanye West, on the other hand, has crossed the line from famous to infamous with his downward spiral into anti-Semitism. It’s no surprise his brands dropped him.

Strategically deployed, a CNN New Year’s Eve broadcast with ebulliently inebriated hosts seems likely to help their individual Q scores, both by creating viral moments (increasing their fame number) and portraying them as fun, likable people (the appeal number).

Licht’s concern about wanting viewers to take CNN’s journalists seriously is a valid one, but watching them drink on New Year’s Eve doesn’t have to undermine that goal.

As of January, I will have been writing for Mediaite for three years, and that has required me to watch a lot of cable news. A lot. A whole lot. Hours and hours and hours every week. (Probably more than is healthy or sane for any one person to consume, but I digress.)

In all those hours and hours and hours of watching cable news programs, seeing the CNN personalities on my television or social media feeds revealing themselves to be human beings did not distract from their journalism. Whether it was Jake Tapper sharing his daughter’s terrifying ordeal with a medical misdiagnosis, Jim Acosta busting out his Yoda impression for Luke Skywalker himself, Shimon Prokupecz’s heartfelt horror at the stories he broke about the Uvalde shooting, or Victor Blackwell and Alisyn Camerota’s humorous trial reenactments and defense of candy corn, it all made for compelling television and showcased the humanity of each of these anchors and reporters.

Mergers are tough and challenging, and between the lingering economic aftershocks of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and other sources of global unrest, there are plenty of reasons to be stressed, even for those of us not on the CNN payroll. Network leadership has touted their pride in CNN’s talent — both publicly and behind the scenes — and they should trust their people to know how to responsibly cut loose as we bid “bye, Felicia!” to 2022 and ring in 2023 with our best attempts at optimism.

To all our readers, please drink responsibly and make sure you have a safe ride home tonight. Cheers, and see y’all in 2023!

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.