Celebs Who Can't Stand CNN's Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper's reputation as a veteran journalist, seasoned news anchor, and silver fox have established him as a CNN mainstay. However, throughout a career filled with highlights and success, the outspoken and acerbic reporter has also rubbed a few people the wrong way and wound up with his fair share of detractors and critics.

While many of said critics are politicians whom Cooper has reported on and verbally eviscerated, he's also butted heads with numerous celebs, leading to feuds that have both been Cooper's fault, and that Cooper did nothing to court. When you've got your own show for years on a 24-hour news channel, you're bound to make a few enemies (and make some off-handed comments that don't land the way you expect) — and Cooper has certainly had his share of controversial moments. From getting blamed for other CNN anchors' low ratings to getting insulted by a former president for being gay or having a falling out with one of his famous besties, the feuds Cooper has dealt with have been varied and strangely unexpected.

British TV journalist and interviewer Piers Morgan has taken a lot of hits during his many years on air, but losing his CNN show due to poor ratings may have been one of the toughest. Morgan took over the timeslot held for years by Larry King, but "Piers Morgan Live" failed to find the same audience — and the outspoken and controversial host decided that the reason for his show's failure was clearly the fault of his former colleague, Anderson Cooper, who's show came on right before Morgan's.

"Could I have done with a better lead-in? Yes. Anderson is a great field reporter, but does he drive big ratings at CNN, outside of a big news cycle? I don't see any evidence of it," Morgan told Politico in 2014 after his departure from CNN. "I think he's pretty good at what he does. But was he the golden boy everybody thought he was? I didn't see much evidence of that in ratings." Morgan later wrote an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter in which he claimed he encouraged former CNN president Jeff Zucker to replace Cooper with Megyn Kelly.

Throughout his time as president, Donald Trump faced criticism from Anderson Cooper on a consistent basis, and he decided to respond with some childish and homophobic insults. The businessman turned TV personality turned politician denigrated the openly gay CNN newsman numerous times during his re-election campaign against Kamala Harris, repeatedly calling him "Allison Cooper," during rallies and on social media.

The misidentification of Cooper was not accidental, either, as evidenced by a remark Trump made in October 2024, when he used the insulting name again, and then mocked Cooper by adding (via The New York Times), "Oh, she said no, his name is Anderson. Oh no." Cooper has previously called Trump out on his CNN show, "Anderson Cooper 360," for employing a "third grade gay taunt" to mock him and his sexual orientation. Trump's use of demeaning nicknames to refer to his critics and opponents is well-documented, but Cooper seemingly shrugged off his insulting remarks as just another example of Trump's grade school name calling.

Kathy Griffin took some serious heat when she posed for a photoshoot holding a bloody replica of Donald Trump's head in 2017. However, the criticism that really seemed to hurt Griffin in a deep way came from Anderson Cooper, who happened to be one of Griffin's close friends with whom she frequently shared airtime. Cooper publicly decried Griffin's controversial photoshoot on Twitter, and he did so before ever reaching out to talk to her about her privately, so the comedian took this very personally.

Griffin and Cooper — who had regularly co-hosted the New Year's Eve countdown in Times Square — had a serious falling out over his public criticism, and the pair still haven't moved past it. Griffin opened up to Bill Maher on an episode of his "Club Random" podcast about the rift, and Griffin explained that they'd had "a little more of a friendship" than her connection to other celebs, which made his remarks "kind of a personal thing because that was like a tough situation."

Griffin added that, while she was open to reconciling, she didn't feel there was much of a chance. "I don't know that he's interested," Griffin said. "But I mean, you know, I also don't have a need to like, hang out with people that maybe weren't so kosher."

When Jennifer Lawrence won her very first Oscar for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook" in 2013, the actress faced embarrassment when she tripped while walking up the steps to the stage to accept the honor. However, for some reason, Cooper commented on the fall during his CNN show a few days later, suggesting that Lawrence may have faked the trip-up on the stairs for attention. The off-handed but insulting insinuation rattled Lawrence when heard it, as she explained during her appearance on the "Absolutely Not" podcast in October 2020.

"Anderson Cooper, I saw him on CNN three days later saying, 'Well she obviously faked the fall,' and it was so devastating because it was this horrific humiliation to me," Lawrence said (per People). She added that she actually called Cooper out later during a party around a group of other people. "I saw him at a Christmas party and I let him know. My friend told me a vein was bulging out of my eyes," Lawrence recalled. "He apologized immediately and said he didn't know and gave this wonderful apology. I was all fired up ... he probably told everyone I was a psycho."

In 2012, Anderson Cooper came out publicly in a letter written to a reporter for The Daily Beast. Shortly thereafter, Star Jones appeared on "Today" and claimed that Cooper's decision to come out was nothing more than a ratings ploy. Cooper didn't hold back when it came to his response, quipping that he hadn't thought about Jones in years, and didn't know she was still on TV. He also claimed that if it had been a ratings ploy, he would have announced it on his own show.

"In terms of boosting ratings, I seem to recall her hawking her wedding every single day to get free products when she was on 'The View,' and I seem to recall her lying about her gastric bypass surgery and making everybody else lie about it as well," Cooper commented during an episode of his CNN show "Anderson Live" (via the Huffington Post). So for her to suddenly emerge out of the shadows and suddenly attack me for this, I couldn't believe it."

Jones shot back on social media, doubling down on her accusation, tweeting, "I was wrong. @andersoncooper didn't come out as a ratings ploy. He used ME talking about him coming out @todayshow as a ratings ploy. #mybad."