Wet and Wild New Year's Eve! Stars & TV Hosts Get Soaked in Times Square as They Ring in 2019
It was a wet and wild entrance for 2019!
To ring in the new year, stars and spectators alike gathered around the streets of New York City on Monday evening and celebrated New Year’s Eve together in extremely rainy conditions.
Despite the unfortunate weather, nothing could stop the TV hosts, performers and fans from enjoying themselves at the many celebrations in Times Square.
At Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve with Ryan Seacrest, multiple artists, including Christina Aguilera, Dan + Shay, Bastille, and New Kids on the Block, braved the wet conditions to perform their live sets, but were quickly soaked by the downpours.
During Dan + Shay’s performance, confetti poured out and stuck to their wet faces. Meanwhile, by the end of Aguilera’s medley, her dramatic makeup began running down her face from the rain.
Maintenance crews were even seen wiping the waters off the stage with squeegees and soggy mops, while fans nearby watched in their rain ponchos.
At CNN’s Live New Year’s Eve show with Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper, the co-hosts were prepared for the elements — which Cohen claimed was like “a swamp” — but were asked to put their umbrella away by the Times Square Alliance.
“I really hope the Times Square Alliance is thrilled that I am now completely soaked,” Cohen later said in frustration after closing his umbrella, according to Deadline. “I’ve ruined this coat. It’s like a joke. What do they care about an umbrella. I was so happy before.”
Cooper eventually jokingly compared the “confiscation” of the umbrella to the pulling of Jim Acosta’s press credentials by the White House, the outlet said.
On FOX’S New Years Eve with Steve Harvey: Live From Times Square, the host and his guests were also affected by the rainy conditions.
Stars including Harvey, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke and Sting all braved the rain to perform for the crowd on stage, some attempting to stay dry with umbrellas, while others opted for hats or coats.
But while things were damp for the majority of the evening, by the time midnight rolled around, the skies cleared up — perhaps signifying a brighter new year to come.
As Seacrest later put it: “As it striked midnight, it almost completely let up.”