Anderson Cooper lobbed a surprising name toward a longtime Republican lawmaker while they were live on CNN this week.
The host of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 invited former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on the show, where they at one point discussed President Donald Trump and Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency.
As the conversation grew heated with back and forth between the two, Cooper, 57, uttered a now-viral remark toward Sununu: “Don’t be a dick.”
Cooper later apologized to Sununu, who fortunately didn’t take the incident too seriously, telling NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that it felt like a political disagreement he’d have with a friend “over a beer.”
“When he said it, of course, I had like six — I thought — really funny comebacks,” Sununu told Cuomo, Cooper’s former colleague. “But I thought, ‘Ah, this is going to get out of control pretty [quickly].’ Because, you know me, I just want to extend the joke.”
He added of Cooper: “He’s a great guy. I don’t take any offense whatsoever, and I think he just forgot the camera was [on].”
In a separate statement to the New York Post, Sununu said, “I’m from New Hampshire. It takes a lot more than that to offend me.”
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Sununu, 50, has often been critical of Trump, even flirting with entering the 2024 Republican presidential primaries before ultimately opting to sit the race out and endorse Nikki Haley.
He left office after four terms as governor in January.
