Jeff Lewis has once again initiated a battle of words, this time with boss Andy Cohen on his radio show, Andy Cohen Live, over some previous statements made about Jeff's ex, Gage Edward. Lewis claims Cohen has made several ill-suited comments about Edward, both during their relationship and after their breakup.
Cohen is Lewis' boss at Radio Andy, where Lewis hosts his own radio show, Jeff Lewis Live, although that's not the only platform that they've held a professional relationship. Cohen was formerly an executive producer for Bravo TV, where Lewis' show Flipping Out has aired its past 11 seasons. The future of Flipping Out is unknown as it has yet to be renewed, but during Lewis' time at Bravo came several appearances on Bravo's late night talk show, Watch What Happens Live, where Cohen repeatedly made cheeky and flirtatious comments about Edward over the years. Many of these comments were in the context of wanting to date Edward himself, to which Lewis was apparently OK with until they broke up in February after 10 years together.
On a recent episode of Andy Cohen Live (via: People), Lewis told Andy, “Once in a while you will say, you know…You used to joke a lot about wanting to date Gage,” to which Cohen replied, “I know, and I stopped the second that you broke up.” According to Lewis, however, this is not the case, as he shot back, “You actually did not. You kept going with it. And actually, you said it recently.” Lewis also brought up how recently Cohen made a comment about bringing Edward to an upcoming Radio Andy event after hearing that Lewis now had a new boyfriend. Lewis stated, “You did mention something about bringing Gage, and it did hurt my feelings. It was different when we were dating and you would joke, but now that we’re not together and it was a tough breakup - I just wanted to say that I prefer you not to say that.” Cohen then apologized and assured him that it was all said in jest and that he meant no ill will or harm towards Lewis. The apology was accepted, but Lewis made clear that while knowing it was a joke, it's no longer a joke once the two have broken up.
Cohen then took his turn at airing any resentments he may have been harboring himself, which included Lewis not acknowledging the birth of his son, Ben, born in February of this year. “I thought it was odd that I never heard from you after the birth of my child,” expressed Cohen. Lewis quickly retorted, stating “Are you kidding me? I even asked about sending a gift, and you said, ‘Absolutely don’t send me a gift, because I’ve received thousands of gifts." Cohen clarified, “I definitely did not want a gift, but you didn’t reach out. Look at our text history.” After a pause, Lewis affirmed him, “I am so sorry if I didn’t, but you were always in my thoughts and I did ask to send a gift… OK, I’m going to be honest with you, I was a little shocked when I found out you had a baby. You were kind of the last person on earth that I thought, at this stage, would have a child.”
Cohen ended up providing some understanding to Lewis by noting that he may have been hurt by not being told about Cohen's baby prior to his arrival, with Lewis agreeing that it's best he hadn't been told as he's aware of his big mouth. While the air throughout the segment may have seemed contentious, this is nothing new between these two longtime colleagues. At the end of the day, they're professionals supporting one another's shows, and ultimately decided to let listeners in on personal issues for what one might assume is for entertainment purposes. Time will tell whether or not this was just another hiccup in their relationship, or if there was some permanent detriment from their discussion.