Considering his obsession with garbage, you’d think former New York City Mayor Eric Adams could handle a bit of trash talk.
In the wee hours of Thursday morning, a heavily inebriated Andy Cohen decided to wrap up CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live broadcast by going scorched earth on the city’s outgoing mayor — despite his co-host Anderson Cooper’s best efforts.
“Watching the final moments of Mayor Adams’ chaotic, horrible [term],” Cohen slurred about 10 minutes after the ball dropped.
“No, don’t!” Cooper said, as he and their guest, comic B.J. Novak, tried their darndest to shut down Cohen’s burgeoning rant.
“This is the thing with you and mayors, man,” Novak said, referring to a similar drunken diatribe Cohen made in 2022 about then-outgoing mayor Bill De Blasio.
Screenshot CNN via Snapstream
Despite the interjections — and already having a pretty spicy conversation with Stephen Colbert earlier in the evening — Cohen pushed on.
He went on to sarcastically say that it was “great” that Adams “got [his] pardons,” referring to Adams’ 2024 corruption charges being dismissed by a judge in April after the Department of Justice got involved.
“Go off in the sunset, we’ll, we’ll fiddle with what we have, with what you left us with,” Cohen said. “Go dance away, we’ll see you at all the parties.”
Despite Novak initially trying to help defuse the situation, he eventually gave in and made a crack of his own.
“See you at Zero Bond!” Novak quipped, referring to an exclusive private club in Manhattan that Adams frequents.
“12:35, don’t be late, Eric,” Novak added.
“Yes! We’ll see you at Zero Bond! All the clubs,” Cohen piggybacked.
Cooper, on the other hand, awkwardly continued to try to reel in his pal.
“Sweetie…” Cooper sighed at one point. “He can’t help himself,” he also said exasperated.
Novak, now clearly enjoying the chaos, then decided to mention Adams’ war on the city’s rats.
“He did a good job with the rats, right?” Novak said, earning a chuckle from Cooper.
“I will say this,” Cohen said, inspired yet again by one of Novak’s jokes. “I think he may have dented the rat population. …I think he got rid of some of the rats, but isn’t that a metaphor of sorts? …Let’s call it as it is, honestly. It is 2026, and there are less rats.”
Adams responded to Cohen’s “sloppy drunken rant” hours later on X. In his reply, the former mayor advised Cohen to “seek help” by joining Alcoholics Anonymous.
“If anyone actually cares about him, they’ll tell him to get help. New Yorkers aren’t laughing with him. They are concerned about him,” Adams wrote. “Public intoxication is a disease. He should seek help. He was safe in Times Square because we did our job. Again. Seek help. AAA: Andy’s Alcohol Anonymous.”
Yet, many X users weren’t thrilled about Adams’ response and defended Cohen. See their comments below.