CNN Bans Hosts From Drinking Alcohol On The Air This New Year’s Eve

 

CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage has become embarrassing in recent years.

Some of the hosts seem to compete with each other to see who can get more drunk and behave more outrageously.

This year that’s going to change, apparently.

Managment is saying no boozing on the air. It’s probably a good idea. 

The Washington Examiner reports:

Sour Lemon: CNN bans on-air drinking for New Year’s Eve special

CNN will ban its anchors from drinking alcohol while on the air during the network’s New Year’s Eve special, breaking from a yearslong tradition in an attempt to boost the station’s credibility.

Network executives announced the rule change during a meeting in mid-November, telling employees they would not be permitted to drink alcohol live on-air, with hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen reportedly exempt from the rule. However, CNN CEO Chris Licht later walked back on those comments, clarifying he implied that as “a joke” and that he would prefer “no drinking on-air at all,” a staffer told journalist Max Tani.

The ban comes after years of somewhat rowdy on-air experiences from CNN hosts who were apparently inebriated, including one instance in which Don Lemon got his ear pierced on live TV after the New Year’s Eve ball dropped at midnight. Another year, the CNN host went on a rant about being a “grown-a** man” who can “share my point of view on television, and it freaks people out.”

One network insider told Tani that Lemon was “not pleased” about the rule change because he is likely to be assigned to cover New Year’s Eve in New Orleans.

This is what they’re trying to avoid:

What a train wreck CNN has become.