Whitney Cummings Roasts CNN Live On Air During The New Years Eve Special

Whitney Cummings made a notable appearance at the 2025 CNN New Year's Eve Live celebration, where she delivered a comedic roast that became widely discussed. Here are some key details from her performance:

Roast of 2024: Cummings took the opportunity to roast the year 2024, making jabs at various topics, including Anderson Cooper's former co-host Kathy Griffin, Hollywood's portrayal of women in movies, and the behavior of public figures. She humorously suggested that 2024 was so bad that people started reminiscing about murderers like the Menendez brothers and Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

Jokes on CNN: She notably mocked CNN's low viewership ratings, drawing a comparison between the size of the theaters she performs in and CNN's audience numbers, saying, "I'm now playing, like 3000-seat theaters, which is about the viewership of CNN these days." This quip was especially poignant given the context of her being on CNN.

Political Commentary: Cummings also targeted the Democratic Party, making controversial remarks about their presidential primary process, humorously suggesting they were "too busy holding up a body" to hold a primary, alluding to President Joe Biden's age and health concerns. She further commented on Kamala Harris, likening her to being "patented by Pfizer." These comments sparked a variety of reactions, with some finding them hilarious while others felt they were too edgy or offensive.

Reactions: The hosts, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, seemed to take her comments in stride, although Cooper admitted he only understood "half the references." Social media reactions were mixed, with right-wing supporters praising her for being "based," while others criticized the humor as trying too hard to be edgy.

Additional Jokes: She also touched on other subjects like the Boy Scouts of America rebranding to Scouting America, drawing a parallel to Sean Combs (Diddy) changing his name amid legal issues, which was part of her roast but was partially cut from the live broadcast.

Cummings' set was a focal point of the New Year's Eve broadcast, turning what is usually a light-hearted celebration into a moment of comedic critique on both the network hosting her and broader societal issues. Her performance was both a highlight and a contentious point of the evening.