Anderson Cooper gets A-list gay co-host after Kathy Griffin is axed from NYE job
Cooper and Griffin (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
Anderson Cooper is getting a new co-host for CNN’s New Year’s Eve show.
Comic Kathy Griffin had hosted the holiday special with him, but was fired by the network following comments about president Trump.
The comedian shocked America earlier this year when she posed for photographs holding a bloodied, ‘beheaded’ Donald Trump.
The graphic image caused an uproar, with prominent Trump critic Griffin being forced to apologise for the ‘stunt’ in a grovelling video.
Now the channel has announced a new co-host – and it’s one of Anderson’s best friends.
Talk show host and comedian Andy Cohen is to take on the role from this New Year.
Cohen is a long-time friend of the news anchor, and the two men posted to Instagram about holidaying together this summer.
The Watch What Happens Live host posted on Twitter: “The news is out! I’m co-hosting New Year’s Eve on CNN with @andersoncooper and I could not be more excited!”
It comes after Griffin said her friendship with Anderson Cooper is officially over.
Cooper, with whom she anchored CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage since 2007, was among those to condemn images of the comic holding Donald Trump’s sethered head.
He posted: ““For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.”
She was subsequently fired by the channel, and the photoshoot described as “disgusting and offensive.”
Griffin has now said she was not impressed by the post, as her news anchor friend had not been in touch with her prior.
RELATED: Kathy Griffin claims Ellen has a ‘mean streak’.
In fact, the comic now says he didn’t contact her for months following the incident.
To make things worse, Cooper told Andy Cohen during an episode of Watch What Happens Live that he and Griffin were still friends – despite never messaging her about the very public row.
His comments hurt Griffin, who ended the friendship herself after Cooper finally reached out to her via text, months after the controversy unfolded.
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She told The Cut: “Why are people still expecting me to apologise and grovel to a man that tweets like this?” Griffin said.
“I’m a comedian; he’s our f***ing president.”
“President Trump just pardoned Joe Arpaio, who was essentially running a concentration camp in the Arizona desert,” she told the publication.
“He said there are some good Nazis, and he’s kicking out young adults who were brought here as kids by their parents, and I’m the one who has to continue to apologise?”
Ms Griffin herself admitted the photoshoot “crossed the line”.
RELATED: Kathy Griffin breaks down after angry call from Ellen.
She labelled the 45th president a “bully” in the wake of the controversy over the images.
“I am not afraid of Donald Trump. He is a bully,” she said at the time.
“A sitting president of the United States and his grown children and the first lady are personally trying to ruin my life forever,” she said.
“You guys know him, he’s not going to stop.”
