Video: Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen promote pre-July 4 special

CNN is promoting its upcoming pre-Independence Day special with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen both on-air and on digital.

The broadcast, titled “Independence Eve Live,” is being marketed as a similar offering to the duo’s annual “New Year’s Eve Live” specials and will include banter between the hosts along with guests, musical performances and coverage of festivities across the country. 

CNN is channeling the specials’ often offbeat, comedic elements with promos that focus on the chemistry between Cooper and Cohen. Spots are airing on both CNN and as paid posts on social media.

CNN previously announced plans to mark America’s 250th anniversary of independence with two days of special programming.

“Independence Eve Live with Anderson & Andy: Celebrating 250” will air from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET and will serve as the network’s kickoff to its July Fourth coverage. The format draws from Cooper and Cohen’s “New Year’s Eve Live,” with the special including coverage of New York’s midnight ball drop tied to the nation’s semiquincentennial.

CNN’s July 4, 2026, coverage will continue with “The Fourth in America: Celebrating 250,” featuring events from the National Mall in Washington, the Great American State Fair and celebrations across the country.

Brianna Keilar and Laura Coates will begin the network’s special coverage at noon from Washington. Cooper and Pamela Brown will later anchor from Boston at 6 p.m. as CNN carries the “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.”

Dana Bash and Boris Sanchez will anchor primetime coverage from the National Mall, while Sara Sidner and Victor Blackwell will report from the top of the Empire State Building in New York, including coverage of the city’s fireworks display. Elex Michaelson and Cari Champion will anchor from San Diego beginning at 11 p.m.

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CNN’s dayside coverage will also include John Berman reporting on revolutionary history in Boston, Erica Hill covering a tall ships flotilla in New York Harbor, Danny Freeman in Philadelphia, Andy Scholes in Nashville, Randi Kaye in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Donie O’Sullivan at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Derek Van Dam on the National Mall, Nick Watt in Los Angeles and Julia Benbrook at the White House.

The network also plans to feature fireworks from more than a dozen cities, including Philadelphia; Nashville, Tennessee; San Diego; Houston; St. Louis; Seward, Alaska; and Kauai, Hawaii.