A comedian reminded CNN of a difficult part of its past on Tuesday night when he was offered a shot by New Year’s Eve hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.
“Oh no. No, I don’t. The last Black man to drink on this network got fired,” said Roy Wood Jr., who’s known for his “Daily Show” appearances. “I’m going to keep it with water for right now. I need some stability.”
Wood appeared to be referring to ex-host Don Lemon, who was a part of the network’s New Year’s specials during his run and would drink during coverage. Fellow Times Square guests Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin didn’t turn down the offer of a shot, however.
Wood co-hosts CNN’s weekly Saturday comedy quiz show, “Have I Got News for You,” alongside Black and Ruffin.
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Comedian Roy Wood Jr. (ABC)
Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after a series of controversies and the struggles of the newly launched AM show “CNN This Morning.”Â
The left-leaning host was pushed out of his primetime spot to become part of a three-person hosting team on then-CEO Chris Licht’s revamped morning program, but the show never got off the ground.Â
Lemon memorably angered network colleagues in 2023 when he suggested Nikki Haley, then 51 years old, wasn’t “in her prime” anymore. At the time, Haley was presciently talking about age concerns for President Biden, who was forced out of the race a year later by members of his own party.
Lemon lasted two more months before Licht dropped him. Licht himself was shown the door in June of that year.
Lemon recently made media headlines with his blistering attack on Donald Trump supporters amid the schism among part of his base about H-1B visas.
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Don Lemon went off on Donald Trump supporters in a recent rant. (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“You’ve been co-opted because you’re in a f—ing cult and you don’t even realize it because you have stupid MAGA brain and you don’t get it,” he said. “How stupid and dumb are you?”Â
He stood by his comments on his YouTube show on Tuesday, saying his critics were “butthurt.”
“I’m not referring to all Trump supporters,” Lemon said. “I’m talking to the MAGA-brained people who will say and do anything to make excuses for any behavior that Donald Trump does, any bad behavior that the MAGA movement does.”
He continued, “So yes, I stand by my words! And if you don’t like what I said, then too f—ing bad, I don’t care!”
Lemon also called out the “hypocrisy” of Trump supporters attacking him for his language while defending their “cult leader.”
“This is how messed up you are. You have a higher expectation of me, an independent journalist, a former cable news host, than you do for the person who sits in the Oval Office. Because his mouth is worse than mine,” Lemon said.
Lemon also attacked Time Magazine last month for picking Trump as its Person of the Year, calling the choice a “joke.”
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Ex-CNN host Don Lemon during an appearance on MSNBC last year. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
“If they wanted to make someone Person of the Year, I don’t know, they could’ve done it with any person. They could have done it to someone who actually stood for democracy, who stands for democracy in the country,” Lemon said.
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Fox News Digital’s Kendall Tietz, Brian Flood and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.