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Andy Cohen Replaces Kathy Griffin as Co-Host of CNN's New Year's Eve Special

Kathy Griffin lost her job at CNN after a scandal earlier this year in which she held a fake severed head of President Trump in a photo shoot

The wait is over. Anderson Cooper will ring in 2018 on CNN’s New Year’s Eve special broadcast with his long-time friend and talk show host Andy Cohen, the station announced Wednesday. 

Cohen "could not be more excited," he said in a Tweet. 

“I’ve been friends with Anderson for 25 years," said Cohen in CNN's press release. "We’ve travelled the world together and performed in 30 plus cities with 'AC2' and it’s all led to this one huge night!”

Cohen, the host of late-night talk show “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” will replace Kathy Griffin, who lost her job at CNN after facing widespread backlash in May for holding a fake bloody, severed head in the likeness of President Trump during a photo shoot.

The comedian was fired from CNN, lost a commercial endorsement deal, and was slammed by her co-host of a decade, Anderson Cooper, who called the photo shoot “clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.”

The Trump family also condemned the photo.

"As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing," Melania Trump said in a statement to NBC News at the time. "When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it."

The comedian initially apologized for posting the photo but retracted her apology a few months later.  

Cooper expressed his excitement at the announcement of his new co-host. 

“Andy is the life of the party wherever he goes, and what bigger party is there than New Year’s Eve? It is going to be a blast!” he said in the press release.

CNN’s 11th annual New Year’s Eve broadcast will air live in Times Square in New York City at 8 p.m.  

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