Andy Cohen Defends His Drunken New Year's Eve Broadcast

Andy Cohen is defending his drunken behavior during CNN’s live broadcast of the New Year’s Eve festivities from New York City’s Times Square, mitigating one of his numerous on-air insults while insisting he did nothing improper.

What Happened: Cohen, who co-hosted the telecast with Anderson Cooper, indulged in a few tequila shots during the broadcast, and the excess alcohol appeared to have loosened his inhibitions. He pointed out Ryan Seacrest across Times Square hosting "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" for ABC and sneered, "If you look behind me, you'll see Ryan Seacrest's group of losers performing. I'm sorry, but if you're watching ABC, you're watching nothing."

When the band Journey began playing from Seacrest’s section of Times Square, Cohen questioned the authenticity of the performance by shouting, "If it's not Steve Perry, it doesn't count."

Cohen also took barbed digs at outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, claiming his appearance at Times Square was “his victory lap dance after four years of the crappiest term as the mayor of New York.” He also trash-talked Facebook FB founder Mark Zuckerberg by insisting the social media mogul was "messing with all of us."

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What Happened Next: Cohen went into damage control on New Year’s Day by tweeting, “Um, I was a bit overserved last night….”

Cohen offered a more in-depth explanation on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM SIRI show, backpedaling on his Seacrest remarks.

"The only thing that I regret saying, the only thing is that I slammed the ABC broadcast," Cohen said. "And I really like Ryan Seacrest, and he's a great guy and I really regret saying that, and I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it."

Yet at the same time, Cohen had no apologies for his less-than-sober appearance.

"I will not be shamed for having fun on New Year’s Eve — that’s why I’m there," Cohen stated. "It’s a four-and-a-half-hour show. The booze started kicking in around 11:30. I kicked into high gear with 45 minutes left."

A CNN spokesperson told the Daily Mail it forgave Cohen for his intoxicated antics.

“Andy said something he shouldn't have on live TV,” the spokesperson said. “We've addressed it with him and look forward to having him back again next year.”

And Cohen is already tuning out the comments about his behavior, tweeting, “Muting people on Twitter is so satisfying. It’s the little things!”

CNN is a division of AT&T’s T WarnerMedia and ABC is a division of the Walt Disney Co. DIS.

Photo: Screen shot of a tequila-fueled Andy Cohen with Anderson Cooper during CNN’s New Year’s Eve telecast.