
OH SNAP — Is this fella the latest in Anderson Cooper's string of romances? There was Julio Cesar Recio, then JD Ordonez from Real World, and now maybe his new biker pal. The pair were spotted Friday cycling around the West Village, just south of Cooper's home in Chelsea in NYC, perhaps picking up some takeout (for a Michael Jackson music video marathon?).
Look at their adorable matching Fred Perry polos! Also matching: their pecs — though the biceps of the as-yet-unidentified partner are a few inches larger than the wee CNN newsman's.

UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader Nitesurf ID'd The Coop's new beau as Paris native Benjamin Maisani, a co-owner of the East Village bar Eastern Bloc, who "Anderson has been with this one for a few months." (He's seen here with fellow proprietors Darren Dryden and Gabriel Beaton.)
(Photos: Pacific Coast News)
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GAH! queerty. you posted the same pic 4 times. not cool.
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as for coops, at least he's dating in his own age-bracket again, and has stopped dipping his toe in my wading pool. it's already too shallow.
I wonder if Andy is a bottom…
I agree with AC–that is one enormous tush.
Talk about a Falcon Pac! Look at the arms and muscles on that guy. Why the hell do Morning Goods so seldom look like this?
If they need a replacement bike seat, I'm available.
Can't AC have a life that is fucking PRIVATE!!! I'm seeing elements of Mario Armando Lavandeira here. And that bastard deserves to be taken out.
hmmmm. the guy seems a little long in the tooth to be anderson's type. anderson tends to go for chicken.
AC is starting to resemble those muscle bound Chelsea boys I saw all during Pride NYC today. Well, I guess he's starting to look like his new BF. LOL.
They appear to lack matching bicycle helmets.
I LOVE MUSCLE BOUND MEN! Always have. Not only do I find them hot together I am also proud that they have maintained a healthy muscular physique. I would bury my head in AC's boyfriend's arm pits after that bike ride if I was him.
Don't we have a helmet law in NY?
It's his boyfriend.
When you got it, flaunt it. But should these lucky bitches have it all?! What the…am I freaking turning green?
If noone else is going to say it i will…. WTF is up with his face in 2 and 6, it cracks me up lol SUPER FROWN!!
@Marc: TASTES like chicken.
The rumor has it that the guy's name is either Antoine or Benjamin Maisani and he's one of the owners of Eastern Bloc. He is a native of Paris. Anderson has been with this one for a few months. Poor Cesar can't ever hold onto AC for very long.
" If no one else is going to say it i will…. WTF is up with his face in 2 and 6, it cracks me up lol SUPER FROWN!! "
Maybe it was too soon for his aching hiney to try bike riding… lmao
I really don't know when the gay rights movement went from recognizing that it is a personal decision to come out of the closet to trying to force people out just because they are famous. I don't doubt that AC is gay, but I'm not going to say he is till he says he is.
Lets see some photos of the queerty team and their boyfriends, or girlfriends. What do the queerty team do on weekends? where do they eat? What do they wear? What skeletons are in their closets? ECT?
@angus: Or do they even exist? My guess is that after David Hauslaib closed Jossip and fired the staff of Queerty, all these new loud and obnoxious racist posts ae by him. That would explain why there's never any author listed!
@The_FNG: You said "Can't AC have a life that is fucking PRIVATE!!! I'm seeing elements of Mario Armando Lavandeira here. And that bastard deserves to be taken out."
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I find it funny that Justin Timberlake and Jessica Beil can have pictures taken of them waiting for a cab, or eating, or Matt Damon and his wife get shots taken of them kissing good-bye, Anne Hathaway gets shots of her looking sad after her boyfriend was arrested etc… and yet somehow it's wrong for similar pictures of Anderson Cooper biking with a possible boyfriend to be published? The only thing that would make that different is if you somehow think that his being gay is shameful and something to be hidden.
Cam is right. He's a public figure, photos like this go with the territory whether the celeb is gay or not. I'm surprised there haven't been more of AC and his many men over the years.
Yep, that hottie is Benjamin. He's one of the owners of my fav gay dive bar Eastern Bloc. His body is even more incredible under that shirt and those jeans.
The Coop is a lucky man!
Cesar gets picked up and dropped like used tissue quite frequently.
@Cam: But where does THE_FNG say that that is okay? This post is about Anderson so he's talking about Anderson, that doesn't mean he agrees with paparazzi stalking other people.
@Cam:
Loved your post. You are spot on!
Come out, come out wherever you are Anderson. Nothing worse than an old closet case.
@Nitesurf: I wouldn't call it surprising. He hasn't had significant fame for very long, only since about 2004 or 2005, and he's a news guy not an actor or pop star. How many pics have you seen around of people like Sam Champion or Shep Smith with whoever they're fucking?
They both look hot. Talk about biceps.
I can tell Anderson seems uncomfortable in this photo.
Mike
http://jjadams928.blogspot.com/
Damn, da-da-damn, damn, damn. I wonder if they have have permits for those guns.
@RRR, I understand your point but Sam Champion and Shep Smith just don't have the "it" factor that AC does and nobody cares who they're sleeping with–the abundance of gossip items about AC here and on other sites speaks to that. Anderson's out and about a lot around NYC and his "disguise" of wearing a cap to cover his silver locks really isn't fooling anyone, so that's why I was a little curious why we haven't seen more pics.
There was an old blind item about a "gay icon" dating an "infamous bartender" in NYC, well I suppose we have the answer to that now but why the guy is infamous is anyone's guess.
@Nitesurf: Celebs are left alone for the most part in NY by citizens, and even a news guy with "it factor" going for him isn't enough to attract paparazzi around there either. If he was an actor or singer or hung around with big name stars instead of regular guys he'd be in more paparazzi snaps.
I remember that blind item but I wouldn't count on there being anything "infamous" about the bartender except the unremarkable fact that he is known to run a gay bar. The blind item actually referred to a "TV icon", so I think the writer was playing fast and loose with exagerrated labels. AC is famous and successful in news but there's no way he's attained the status of "TV icon". TV icon is for people like Dick Clark or Johnny Carson.
The gentleman in question was a cocktail waiter at Barracuda in Chelsea several years ago and has worked in other bars as well. Its a surprise to see him in daylight. Don't know why Mr.Cooper is received as some kind of gay celebrity, he's a well respected journalist, but,who knew him before his CNN gig? He was a rather lackluster,boring, distant guest on the Ellen Degeneres show not very long ago. Is he all that great looking? Rather short and pasty as compared to the other beauties often featured here. I see plenty of guys on the subway that are much more attractive.
blue shirt guy is hot..
@princedeligne: There is a component of accomplishment, social significance or even just fame to being a "gay celebrity". Something more than having a tan and some height. Anderson Cooper is a celebrity who is gay, while the twinks in pics here and on your subway are not, so it's natural for that to make him more likely to be received as a gay celebrity.
Is shep Smith gay?
Oh wow, it's pretty surreal to get namechecked in a Queerty update! I promise not to let it go to my head…..
@RRR, good point about New Yorker's generally indifferent attitude towards celebrities and it's also true that AC is not in the "Brangelina" category of fame.
@Michael: Yes, Shep Smith is gay. There are a number of gay personalities on TV news and he is one of them. Normally Anderson Cooper is the only one that gets outed or discussed, but very occasionally you see Shep outed like he just was in the documentary Outrage.
@mk: I had no clue he was gay.Is he homophobic? All I know is that he works for foux and that he likes O'reilly and Glen Beck who are both serious homophobes.
Not explicitly homophobic that I've seen or heard of, although he hasn't actually rejected or distanced himself at all from the pro-republican and anti-gay stance of his network. These days he actually seems to be the only remotely rational and remotely voice on Faux, and he's drawn heat from republicans after the assassination of the abortion doctor by speaking out on the network about all the scary crazy emails they get from conservatives and the dangerous anger that's building out there. Some people have wondered if his days are numbered on Faux, but I think they'll keep him around so they can point to him and say "look, we aren't totally 100% orthodox conservative al the time!".
@mk: you said "Some people have wondered if his days are numbered on Faux, but I think they'll keep him around so they can point to him and say "look, we aren't totally 100% orthodox conservative al the time!".:
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I was wondering the same thing after he blew up at that guy yelling "The United States is NOT supposed to tortoure" and when he spoke about the psycho e-mails he gets.
Now that weak token liberal Colmes left Faux, Shep has become the only person they have that could remotely suggest any sort of "balance" and he gets good ratings. I don't imagine they'll get rid of him for those couple of outbursts. I'm not even absolutely sure that they weren't strategically planned outbursts. Shep has been doing interviews about how he says what he wants and is uncensored and it's being used by the interviewers as proof that while Faux late night "opinion" shows have a bias their news coverage does not (which is laughable).
@HellsKitchen:
I believe the helmet law pertains only to motorcycle operators. Please do correct me if I am wrong.
Old chicken makes good soup!
look at all these comments. only one of them mine.
AC is that you @ No. 45?
how can anderson cooper be gay when he is checking out that girl ass?
Shane:He probably is looking enviously at the purse!
Fox has gone through journalists head over heels nonestop: most of them have quit, unable to tolerate Murdoch's daily personal editing of the news. They admitedly got his version of events daily to crib from..
Watch "OUTFOXED' .They interview the flock of ex-foxers. Truly amazing that one Neocon writs the news. But re; A.C. It seems very often that gays are less concientious about what they'll do for money. Part of assimilation?
@shane:
Perhaps checking out is the wrong term. Maybe wondering why she made that unflattering fashion choice. His mother knows something about jeans. Genetics.
@M Shane: lol i hope not because that purse is ugly
@Marius: I think your right anderson sometimes acts like a queen when it comes to fashion
I am truly saddened by these pictures, only because Anderson Cooper is a decent, empathic, caring person who has had his share of tragedy with his father dying at age 50 and losing his brother to suicide which affected him very deeply. Eventho he was born to famous parents writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt this does not mean his pain was any less than if you or I had experienced this in our lives. I "fell in love" with Anderson when he did the story of the West Virginia coal miners who were trapped for days with only one survivor making it out of the mines. The whole town fell in love with Anderson, he showed heartfelt sympathy and much, much empathy for these people and they felt it, I felt it, America felt it. Please,let's don't judge him on his private life as that should be his to own not ours to tear apart. Check out his support for many causes such as New Orleans against violence, marching against wildfires in California and others. Let's concentrate on all the good he's done and the fact that he is a genuine, down-to-earth, likeable, entertaining journalist, leave his personal life alone as it is absolutely none of our business.
@Starry Eyed:
Your points are well-taken, Starry Eyed. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with the rest of us.
@AlwaysGay:
AMEN to THAT!!! Really dig sweaty armpits on hot, sexy, suckers too!
There is a holy place in Anderson Coopers spirit, and it is quite evident in his manner. I often wonder abouth the culture of the American people and the gossip that fills their head, how it has been burned into the consciousness of certain people who really need to examine themselves and their own psychological makeup. When one gossips, one causes separation and forgets their own spiritual mirror, and Anderson Cooper just because of his wealth or fame does not give any one the right to discuss his social arena or his sexuality, by far his intelect speaks for it self and so does his compassion and great wisdom.
love
Warren Le Johnson
I whole-heartedly approve! Maisani is hott! You go, Coop!
Cooper is a disgrace. He wants to have it both ways, like so many other fucked-up self-hating queens in Hollywood. But, karma is a bitch: he is dead-last in the ratings. Mr. Coop, your 15 minutes are up!
Oh wait, maybe he will finally come out as ratings stunt!
Why do we even care if Anderson is gay or not? His private life is private — let's just leave it at that.
Anderson , i love you , i hope the gay rumors are just that rumors, u are so veryyyyy hot.