Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
CNN Showed Its News Anchors Getting Drunk on New Year's Eve
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 6 years ago on
January 2, 2019

Share

On Monday, CNN’s anchors and correspondents engaged in what has become an annual tradition for the network on New Year’s Eve: drinking on air.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Brooke Baldwin, and Randi Kaye spent the night drinking shots, champagne and vodka-sodas and encouraging viewers at home to join them, highlights of which you can see in the video below.

CNN Broadcast Centered on Alcohol

While CNN was not the only network to show its hosts drinking on air (Fox News hosts mixed drinks on camera during the network’s New Year’s Eve special), its broadcast centered on alcohol more than other networks’, according to a Washington Post review of closed-captioning records.

The on-air drinking was a far cry from the New Year’s Eve broadcasts of Guy Lombardo and Dick Clark, which focused primarily on music and festivities.

Past CNN New Year’s Eve Broadcasts

In recent years, CNN hosts have gotten ears piercedremoved clothes and attended marijuana parties on air, none of which happened Monday night (though Cooper did discuss his mother’s relationship history at one point).

The social media attention paid to the on-air drinking may have overshadowed a key moment at midnight: Journalists were invited to drop the ball in Times Square to honor press freedom after the number of reporters killed nearly doubled in 2018.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

Fresno City Council Finally Passes a Tough Smoke Shop Ordinance

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

9 hours ago

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

10 hours ago

Yastrzemski and Chapman Homers Help Giants Rally Past the Brewers

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Yastrzemski and Matt Chapman homered as the San Francisco Giants rallied to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-5 on Thursday ...

7 hours ago

7 hours ago

Yastrzemski and Chapman Homers Help Giants Rally Past the Brewers

7 hours ago

Fresno City Council Finally Passes a Tough Smoke Shop Ordinance

9 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Wittrup Says District Had Stronger Candidates Than Misty Her

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during an 'Unleashing American Energy' event at the Department of Energy in Washington, U.S., June 29, 2017. (REUTERS File)
9 hours ago

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

10 hours ago

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

Chickens sit at a poultry farm. March 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo)
10 hours ago

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

10 hours ago

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

Candi, GV Wire's Adoptable Cat of the Week
11 hours ago

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend