January 1, CNN Reporters No Longer Allowed to Drink on the Job

CNN put the kibosh on its anchors drinking during its “New Year’s Eve Live” broadcast.

Variety reported that host Anderson Cooper will still be allowed to drink during the primetime broadcast from Times Square, but correspondents and anchors like Don Lemon will be required to stop.

Network chairman and CEO Chris Licht announced the change during a company town hall, saying that he was pulling the plug on the boozing that’s become a tradition of CNN’s New Year’s Eve programming.

Licht told employees that he believed on-air drinking diminished the credibility and “respectability” of CNN personnel.

Variety noted that Lemon previously led the network’s coverage after 12:30 a.m., when things get a bit rowdier. One year, Lemon had his ear pierced during the live broadcast. During last year’s show, he went on a rant, saying he was a “grown-a— man” who was “able to share my point of view on television and it freaks people out and you know what,” he said. “You can kiss my behind, I do not care. I don’t care.”

Lemon has previously insisted that he’s in complete control of his faculties while on camera.

“The idea is to have fun. What can I do that’s interesting and engaging for the audience?” he told Variety in 2018.  “I do realize if I’m going to get a tattoo, I am making that decision.”

Source: Variety