CNN rang in the new year with its co-hosts taking tequila shots and talking about “the biggest cock in Hollywood” while a correspondent jumped into a rum bath with a drag queen mermaid.
Co-hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen got ready for 2020 by downing shots of tequila during CNN’s live coverage of New Year’s Eve in Times Square on December 31. At one point, the two recalled when Cooper’s mom Gloria Vanderbilt asked at Cohen’s “‘Watch What Happens Live” Bravo program if he planned to ask her “who has the biggest cock in Hollywood.”
After debating about whether they were allowed to use the word “cock” on live television, Cooper went ahead and used the full phrase while explaining the story.
“She turns to me out of the blue and goes, ‘he’s [Cohen] not gonna ask me who has the biggest cock in Hollywood, is he?'” Cooper said. Vanderbilt died in June.
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“Okay … Anderson just said it,” Cohen replied. He then noted that the person who has “the biggest cock in Hollywood” is a Jewish man, although he did not give a name.
Cooper later apologized for saying “cock” on live television.
As the live program continued, the co-hosts went to CNN correspondent Randi Kaye, who was reporting from a party at a Key West, Florida bar. Kaye began interviewing a drag queen dressed as a mermaid laying in a bathtub full of rum.
She was pulled into the bathtub by the drag queen mermaid and began to shake up a bottle before taking a swig directly from it. Kaye then began to pour the alcohol over the drag queen.
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“A mermaid in a bathtub here,” Kaye said before entering the tub. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tail so huge!”
“That’s not the only thing that’s huge here, honey,” the drag queen mermaid quipped.
The co-hosts appeared shocked but amused at the situation, and Cohen noted that “Randi Kaye knows how to party!” Cooper, meanwhile, was left speechless for a time.
“We’re just pretending that didn’t happen?” Cooper finally said after the co-hosts cut away from the wild bar scene.
Cooper and Cohen drank alcohol throughout the hours-long broadcast, starting with tequila and ending the evening with Cooper’s very first Jager shot. Cooper was visibly disgusted by the shot and couldn’t respond to Cohen’s questions until he drank water.
“What is that? Who would drink this?” Cooper said as he grabbed a bottle of water.
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The drunk escapades appear to be a repeat from last year, where the two co-hosts drank live on air leading up to the new year. Cooper appeared to struggle to take some of the shots last year, too. Kaye also got wild to ring in 2019, doing a champagne bong on live television. (RELATED: CNN’s Randi Kaye Does Champagne Bong On New Year’s Eve Broadcast)