Anyone who watched the CNN New Year’s Eve show each year knows things can get, well, kind of out of control. That’s not usual for the news network, so it can be a little jarring seeing Anderson Cooper or Don Lemon totally plastered.
Now, CNN is implementing new rules to stop any embarrassing incidents from happening.
According to the A/V Club, “Sad news today for anyone who loves bringing in the new year by watching Don Lemon give successively fewer fucks as the night goes on: CNN has apparently issued a dictate to its reporters, ordering them not to drink during the news network’s annual New Year’s Eve coverage.”
The A/V Club added, “This literally buzz-killing mandate was apparently handed down during a network townhall meeting by recently-minted CEO Chris Licht, who was installed in his position amidst the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger that’s shaped so much of the entertainment industry in recent months. Licht, a former MSNBC veteran, expressed concerns that having correspondents and anchors drink on camera ‘eroded the credibility of CNN personnel and damaged the respectability’ they may enjoy among viewers.”
Whether or not you are a CNN fan, you have to admit that it’s pretty entertaining watch the reporters got wacky on the air. All that fun is gone now. Or, is it? The memo just says reporters can’t drink, so maybe hosts are exempt. That means Cooper and New Year’s Eve co-host Andy Cohen will likely be able to down the liquor.
Last New Year’s Eye, Cohen went on a tangent that Journey isn’t’ really Journey without Steve Perry. That’s difficult to argue with. That was the least of the on-camera shenanigans, so time will tell if this year’s CNN broadcast is super boring compared to the past. I mean, what’s wrong with there finally being something entertaining on a news network?