Andy Cohen is in protective friend mode.
The Watch What Happens Live host jumped to defend pals Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos after a recent article claimed the couple's morning talk show Live with Kelly & Mark, which the latter just joined as permanent co-host, had gotten negative reviews.
"I have a bone to pick with the New York Post," Andy shared on SiriusXM's Andy Cohen Live April 19. "Mark and Kelly had their premiere the other day. Okay. The New York Post writes an article saying response to the show was bad, and they quote 10 or seven or five negative tweets about the show. This is a national show that gets, I think, like 5 million viewers a day. It's the No. 1 morning show."
Andy went on to suggest that it wasn't that hard to find negative tweets, citing his own show.
"There are probably 16 troll-y tweets about this particular broadcast right now," the 54-year-old continued. "There's not a show that you could write about that you couldn't say, ‘Well, guess what? People on Twitter hated it.'"
Andy explained that despite the claims of the show being a flop, he feels the ratings will speak for themselves. He noted, "It's reported as news, six troll-y tweets, where I'm sure Monday's show—and we don't know the rating yet—probably got their highest ratings in the longest time."
He added, "Who cares what six randos said on Twitter, you know?"
However, The Andy Cohen Diaries author was irked once again when the outlet came back the next day to report the same story.
"But then they did it again on Tuesday," he said. "They're like, ‘Yeah, people still don't like it.' You know what, you're lazy. You are lazy. You're picking your butt trying to come up with something to write about."
The Post also gave a subtle dig to Andy, by alleging that his Instagram Story of a picture of Snoopy that read "Keep your head up" was actually a nod to Kelly and Mark amid their debut show.
"Are you kidding me?" Andy exclaimed. "This is crazy. This has nothing to do with anything."
Mark joined his wife as co-host of the daytime talk show following Ryan Seacrest's departure after six seasons.
"This is my favorite hour or television every morning, I swear," Mark said on the duo's premiere episode April 18. "I'm so proud, and it's just a privilege to be here with you."
Noting how far the two have come since their days on All My Children—where they first met in 1995—he expressed his gratitude for being able to sit in the chair next to his wife.
"Thank you for trusting me to be your co-host," he gushed before giving a nod to their soap opera characters. "Thank you America, thank you—Hayley and Mateo forever."
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)