Sherri Shepherd Apologizes to Recovering Alcoholic Elizabeth Vargas After Begging Guest to 'Get Drunk' With Her on Show

Sherri Shepherd is apologizing after coming under fire for making several jokes about alcohol during her recent interview with recovering alcoholic Elizabeth Vargas.

After the unsettling encounter on the Thursday, June 1, broadcast of Sherri, the guest star revealed that the host did apologize to her after the unintentional blunder.

"Sherri called to apologize — she was very gracious. She just didn't know. It's not a big deal. I was not at all upset," the 60-year-old NewsNation host said in a statement.

Shepherd, 56, also expressed her regret in a statement of her own, telling an outlet: "Sometimes when you're doing live TV, you make mistakes. Today that happened during my Elizabeth Vargas interview and I'm sorry for that."

Calling Vargas "very gracious about it in the moment," Shepherd explained that she phoned her after the episode, with the conversation concluding with Vargas apparently saying "she is looking forward to returning next season."

Shepherd began with her talk of alcohol while discussing the hardships that come with motherhood, telling Vargas, "I'm going to take you to the bar, we're going to drink, we're going to have a drink."

Vargas, who has long been publicly open about her struggles with alcoholism, replied by saying she will "have my classic club soda with cranberry juice, but you can pound some shots."

Shepherd then joked that her guest was "no fun," but would still take her out anyway. "You and me, we're going to be at the bar going, 'It's not news tonight!' That's what we've got to do."

The talk show host again brought up drinking together later in the episode after she suggested that Vargas write up a second book in her free time.

"One day, after you do NewsNation and iCrime, when we go to the bar and we get drunk and have a good time and we end up talking to some people," said Shepherd before Vargas interrupted her, replying, "You get drunk. I'll be your designated driver."

Not picking up on what she was saying, Shepherd continued, "You come home and write a fictional book with a lot of sex. Crime with a lot of sex!"

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Several Sherri viewers fired off tweets during the episode, calling Shepherd out for encouraging a recovering alcoholic — who once admitted during a 2016 interview with Diane Sawyer: "I would die for my children, Diane, but I couldn't stop drinking for my children" — to drink.

"Sherri, Elizabeth Vargas is a recovering alcoholic. She's written a book about it. She can't get drunk with you," one upset viewer wrote, with another adding, "@sherrishowtv Psst. Elizabeth Vargas is in Recovery from Alcohol. It nearly killed her. Please do not invite her out for a drink, or wild night out. #sherrishow #sherri."

EW obtained statements from both Vargas and Shepherd after the episode.