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‘Uh, oh’: Comedian throws shade at Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper when offered NYE drink

January 1, 2025 | | Print Article

CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen rang in the new year with their party banter and on-air drinking which one guest pointedly refused to join.

Comedian Roy Wood Jr. refused an offer to throw back a New Year’s Eve shot during CNN’s coverage of the night’s festivities. But while his co-stars on “Have I Got News for You,” Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin, joined in for a celebratory drink, Wood was having none of it.

And his reasoning seemed to be a jab about former CNN host Don Lemon who was an annual spectacle on the network’s New Year’s Eve coverage.

“Joining us now, the host of the hilarious new quiz show on CNN, ‘Have I got news for you.’ Just renewed for season two,” Cooper said as he introduced Wood to viewers.

“Does anyone want a shot?” Cohen asked, offering tequila to the trio.

Cooper reached into his pockets to pull out the shot glasses as Cohen readied to pour.

“Would you like to start?” the CNN host asked as Ruffin excitedly said, “Yes!”

But Wood could be heard declining.

“Oh no. No, I don’t,” he said. “The last black man to drink on this network got fired.”

“I’m going to keep it with water for right now. I need some stability,” Wood told the group as Cohen and Cooper continued their drink-fest while seeming to ignore the zinger.

The jab seemed to be about Lemon who was let go by the network in 2023.

“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play,” Lemon said at the time, following a series of controversies.

In a post on X after midnight, Wood shared the CNN clip and wrote, “Not gone catch me slippin in the Deuce-Five.”

Though he didn’t mention Lemon directly, plenty of X users got the message.

 

Frieda Powers
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