Cinema Blend reported on Wednesday that Andy Cohen pushed back against accusations that the Bravo network allegedly pressured the stars of the “Real Housewives” franchise to drink alcohol on the show. The producer spoke with The Hollywood Reporter in a career retrospective and claimed the allegations are off base.
“What I’ll say about alcohol is that we have so many sober people and people who have gotten sober on the show, like Countess Luann [de Lesseps]. We have people who’ve never had a drink during the entire run of the show. Jill Zarin. Kandi Burris. Heather Dubrow will just have an occasional champagne. So sure, there are people who drink.” Cohen explained. “There are many people who never drink. We don’t force anyone to do anything. But no one is secretly hiding liquor bottles on set. That’s ridiculous. We’ve been very supportive of people’s sobriety.”
People reported in March that Cohen is facing a lawsuit at the hands of the ex- “Real Housewives of New York” star, Leah McSweeney. McSweeney cited a “rotted” culture and alleged employees were pushed to drink during filming.
The reality star claimed she is currently in recovery and alleges that she relapsed while filming Real Housewives of New York. In the lawsuit, she claimed the network did not accommodate her alcoholism and mental health issues. McSweeney additionally claimed producers attempted to thwart her sobriety by “intentionally planning scenarios intended to exacerbate [her] disabilities,” to “create morbidly salacious reality television.”
“We don’t need to gin up drama!” Cohen said. “Have you seen Ramona Singer on a random Tuesday at 1 p.m.? Have you ever run into Lisa Rinna at noon? Lisa Rinna does not need a glass of rosé in order to tell you exactly how she is feeling. Margaret Josephs only drinks Diet Coke and she is a truth cannon wherever she goes. I don’t think Teresa Giudice would say that it was the red wine that caused her to flip that table! We start filming the reunions at 6 a.m. for God’s sake!”
McSweeney’s lawsuit additionally claimed that Cohen allegedly used cocaine with some of the housewives according to People, and gave them preferential treatment. Whether or not that is true, Cohen has imbibed publicly on live television multiple times, particularly during New Year’s Eve broadcasts.
In November, Andy Cohen fired back at CNN after the network pushed for a New Year’s Eve booze ban, where Cohen and Anderson Cooper would not be allowed to drink on-air while covering the ball drop in Times Square. Cohen has a history of booze-soaked rants during New Year’s Eve coverage, and it was highly likely the network took that into consideration.
In December 2021, Cohen and Anderson Cooper partook in tequila shots, which led to Cohen’s drunken rant about Mayor Bill de Blasio, which can be watched below in a video from Organic Slant:
Though Cooper attempted to reign Cohen in, it appeared Cohen indeed was three sheets to the wind. Yet Cohen appeared to not be too jazzed about the network’s 2023 New Year’s Eve booze ban.
“Come on, they need to let us drink. It’s New Year’s Eve. That didn’t go well last year in terms of viewer happiness about us drinking. People cared and I hope CNN gives the people what they want,” Cohen expressed.
In December, Cohen claimed to have found a loophole in the network’s request and he expressed that he was determined to find a way to have a drink during New Year’s Eve.
“CNN said the correspondents will not be drinking. I’m going to just march back to Bravo at 12:30 in the morning and be done with it. And so I can kind of torch the place while I’m there, and then head out.”
Good Housekeeping reported that Cohen didn’t exactly torch the place, but he did throw some serious shade at Ryan Seacrest, who was hosting Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. The host allegedly said that those watching ABC’s broadcast were watching “Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers.” The host later apologized for his behavior.
