On the evening of Dec. 31st, major broadcast and cable news networks will begin airing programming aimed at celebrating the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019. This happens every year, in many countries across the world, and these New Year’s Eve celebrations are almost always populated by memorable, if not outright shocking moments. Here are some of our favorites New Year’s Eve TV moments from the recent past.
The 5 most memorable New Year’s Eve TV moments
New Year’s Eve TV moments: Green Day’s lead singer tells MTV how drunk he is
For the MTV New Year’s Eve Live 1999 special co-hosts Carson Daly and Jennifer Love Hewitt made sure to give the younger generations of TV viewers their own version of Dick Clark’s broadcast staple. How? By have Green Day perform several of its hits from the then-current album Nimrod, including “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” About midway through the performance, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong stopped playing, laughed to himself and said, “I am really f–ked up.” The audience lost it and the show continued on.
New Year’s Eve TV moments: CNN’s Don Lemon gets his ear pierced
In recent years, CNN anchors Don Lemon and Brooke Baldwin have led the late-night charge after Anderson Cooper signs off from covering NYE. About half an hour before the city of New Orleans and all of Central Standard Time rang in 2017, the pair set up shop at a tattoo parlor where, on live television, a visibly inebriated Lemon had his ear pierced. A few hours later, he asked the viewers at home to “drink at home” while Baldwin laughed it off.
New Year’s Eve TV moments: Mariah Carey fails to lip sync
Lemon’s drunken ear piercing wasn’t the biggest thing to happen moments before 2017. That honor belongs to singer Mariah Carey, whose performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve was overshadowed by audio issues and a lip-syncing mishap. Viewers at home and those in attendance immediately realized that Carey wasn’t actually singing when the audio suddenly skipped and her movements no longer matched the song. She later blamed the show’s producers and said she was “mortified” by what had happened. The following New Year’s Eve, however, Carey went out of her way to redeem herself with another performance.
New Year’s Eve TV moments: Pit Bull loses his footing
While CNN and the major broadcast networks’ New Year’s Eve celebrations have become the dominant programming in recent years, others will occasionally get a foot in the door. Like FOX, which hired a handful of television and music stars to co-host its own programming from Miami in 2015. This included the rapper Pit Bull, who at one point won a shot-taking contest and promptly lost his footing on the stage. Mr. 305 indeed!
New Year’s Eve TV moments: Steve Harvey wears… something
Speaking of FOX, the network has been employing game and talk show host Steve Harvey as its primary New Year’s Eve host for the past few years. And during the lead up to 2018, social media lost its collective mind when he showed up on camera wearing an all-white winter coat ensemble, top hat and all. “Steve Harvey looks like a Batman villain that has captured Times Square and will kill civilians unless Batman answers all of his riddles,” one Twitter user joked. Others were quick to join in on the fun and promptly turned Harvey’s outfit into a meme.
Steve Harvey looks like a Batman villain that has captured Times Square and will kill civilians unless Batman answers all of his riddles pic.twitter.com/Et7o8wQyq0
— Lester, The Writer (@TheLesterLee) January 1, 2018
