Andy Cohen cheered on John Mayer when the musician sent a letter to The Hollywood Reporter about their line of questioning to Cohen about their friendship.
“I will tell you someone who I am not with. Who — between he or I we are constantly having to clarify our relationship and that is John Mayer,” Cohen, 55, said on Friday’s episode of his “Daddy Diaries” podcast.
“And in this interview — I’m on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter — and the interviewer said, ‘You know, your friendship with John. People really speculated and people are dubious that a straight rockstar could have a close, platonic relationship with a gay TV personality,’” he went on.
“And it is one of many times that I’ve been asked to kind of defend my relationship with him or characterize it or explain it. John wrote a letter to the editor of The Hollywood Reporter about this and I so loved it.”
Cohen previously told THR to let the public “speculate” about his friendship with Mayer, 46.
“I honestly love John Mayer, and he loves me,” Cohen continued. “But because we’re so affectionate toward each other, people don’t know what box to put that in. They assume we’re sleeping with each other, which we are most definitely not.”
In response, Mayer sent a scathing letter to the outlet and journalist Maer Roshan, which Cohen read aloud on Friday.
“People seem dubious that a straight rock star can have a close, platonic relationship with a gay TV personality,” Mayer wrote. “First, there is a long and storied history of ‘rock stars’ (not mocking, just won’t refer to myself as one) befriending gay icons and artists. Second, I think that to suggest that people are dubious of a friendship like mine and Andy’s is to undermine the public’s ability to accept and understand diversity in all facets of culture, be it in art or in real life.”
He added that he believes that the public are “sophisticated enough” to understand his relationship with Cohen “without assuming it must include a sexual component.”
To that, Cohen joked “drag her!” on Friday.
“I love that sentiment and that should now put an end to anyone asking us, ‘What’s the deal with you two? Explain it.’ It is demeaning to ask a gay guy about being friends with a straight guy. And also, it does assume that a gay guy can’t be friends with a straight person without them having sex,” Cohen said on his podcast.
“I cheered when John said that and I think that letter shows an incredible — I said to John after it was published — ‘You know what? This really shows what an ally you are. That you care enough about this trope being lazy and dumb. That you would write this letter.’ So I really, really love that he did that and I applaud him wanting it published. So, thank you John for going on the record about that. I thought it was really, really cool.”
Cohen and the “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” singer have been friends for years. In 2023, Cohen said they are “in love” with each other and previously noted they have a “sweet” bond.