Consuelos took over following Ryan Seacrest's departure from the long-running morning show.
Andy Cohen is clapping back at a newspaper for criticizing Mark Consuelos' first week co-hosting Live alongside his wife, Kelly Ripa.
During Cohen's SiriusXM show, Andy Cohen Live, Wednesday, the Bravo host responded to a New York Post article that called Live with Kelly & Mark "bad" based on some negative tweets about the show.
"I have a bone to pick with the New York Post. Mark [Consuelos] and Kelly [Ripa] had their premiere the other day. The New York Post writes an article saying the response to the show was bad, and they quote 10 or 7 or 5 negative tweets about the show. This is a national show that gets, I think, like 5 million viewers a day. It's the number one morning show," a frustrated Cohen tells listeners.
He continued, "So, the Post decides to lazily report that, ‘Oh, people hate it’ based on six trolley tweets. There are probably 16 trolley tweets about this particular broadcast right now. There's not a show that you could write about that you couldn't say. 'Well, guess what? People on Twitter hated it' So, it's reported as news. Six trolley tweets where I'm sure that Monday's show, and we don't know the ratings yet, probably got their highest ratings in a long time. Who cares what six randos said on Twitter."
Cohen said that the outlet proceeded to follow the same line of reporting on Tuesday, writing up a piece that said viewers "still don't like" the show, two days into Consuelos' time as co-host.
"You know what, you're lazy. You are lazy," Cohen said, slamming the outlet. "You're picking your butt trying to come up with something to write about. This is like Megyn Kelly journalism here, you know, cut from the same cloth."
What's more, was that Cohen was roped into the reporting, with the TV personality adding that Paige Six, a subset of the New York Post, used one of his social media posts as proof that Cohen was supporting his longtime friends amid the "mixed reviews" on their show.
"How many days a week do I post a Snoopy meme on my Instagram stories? Probably five, maybe," Cohen asked a producer on his show. "Just very randomly post. Yesterday, I posted one that, by the way, I had meant to post two days before and forgot. It was a cute one that said like, 'Hang in there, Snoopy in Woodstock,' whatever, someone hanging. Hang in there. I post it yesterday, the New York Post writes an article, Page Six saying, 'Andy Cohen appears to support Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, amid mixed Live reviews.'"
He continued, Reading a few lines from the piece, "Now, they're talking about these 12 tweets in the mixed Live reviews. ‘That's what friends are for. Andy Cohen seemingly supported his longtime friends, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Taking to Instagram stories, the 54-year-old Bravo honcho shared an illustration of Snoopy alongside the words, keep your head up.' I mean, like, are you kidding me? This is crazy. This has nothing to do with anything."
Cohen noted that he has not spoken to either Ripa or Consuelos about the recent reports.
"By the way, haven't spoken to either of them about any of this, and I'm sure they don't even know it's happening," Cohen maintained. "But anyway, I'm annoyed because I read Page Six like five times a day, so I'm all activated."
The couple made their official debut as co-hosts on Live With Kelly and Mark on Monday morning, immediately following Ryan Seacrest's departure from the daytime talk show after six seasons on Friday. Consuelos has co-hosted alongside his wife countless times over the years, but this new move makes his spot permanent.
"Joining me today, and permanently, until one of us dies is Mark Consuelos!" Ripa joked at the start of the broadcast.
"Wow, that was a nice reception," Mark said, acknowledging the audience's standing ovation. Turning attention to his wife, he added, "I just want to say thank you for trusting me to be your co-pilot."
Back in March, Consuelos told ET that he was "really excited" about taking a seat next to his longtime love.
"It's an honor. It's such an iconic show. That seat next to my wife is such a cherished seat. I consider her the best in the business," he gushed.
At the time of Seacrest's departure was announced, a source told ET that the network's decision to choose Consuelos as Seacrest's replacement "was easy."
"The network and Kelly wanted to avoid her and a new co-host not hitting it off," the source told ET. "Mark and Kelly have hosted before and it's always gone well with fan reaction."
Ripa recently joked with ET that the human resources department was going to have "a field day" with the new arrangement.
"HR's not gonna know what to make of -- you know, I don’t know if you heard, around here, you know, off set frolicking is frowned upon," she cracked, making light of Amy Robach's and T.J. Holmes' ouster from GMA3 amid their workplace romance. "Mark and I are gonna have to really mind our Ps and Qs while we're on the air."
In all seriousness, Ripa did gush that having her husband seated beside her at the table would be a "very celebratory" occasion.
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