Jan. 9, 2026, 10:16 a.m. ET
Tony Dokoupil‘s first week at “CBS Evening News” is getting criticism from former Fox News host and NBC anchor Megyn Kelly.
Dokoupil, who officially debuted as the evening news program’s lead anchor on Jan. 5, has caught flak for on-air flubs on the broadcast, but a recent clip of the journalist crying during a segment is drawing particular ire.
The former Fox News star took to her podcast to criticize the clip.
“We have to talk about the new anchor of ‘CBS Evening News,'” Kelly told her guest, ousted ABC News journalist Mark Halperin, during the Wednesday, Jan. 7, episode. “There’s no crying in ‘Evening News.'”
Kelly said there was one exception: In the event of a presidential assassination, recalling “CBS Evening News” legend Walter Cronkite shedding a tear following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. “There was a wiping of the eyes when he took off the glasses to report that JFK had been shot and killed. That’s as far as he went. That’s as far as most ‘Evening News’ anchors would ever have gone, traditionally.” Though, she added, “It’s the dawn of a new day.”
She continued, “I literally could not believe my eyes,” going on to discuss why Dokoupil may have gotten the job and his stated mission in the new role to listen more to viewers than “elites.” Kelly eventually played the clip, shared by CBS, in which the former “CBS Mornings” cohost is asked about why Miami is his “favorite place in the world.”
“It makes me emotional,” he said, getting choked up and wiping his eyes. “To help people understand why I have such a reaction. Florida is where I grew up. My grandmother’s here, my father, my mother, my aunts and uncles, cousins, and it’s where I would have spent all of my childhood.”
He went on to explain that his father sold drugs, and due to trouble he got into, the family left. “I feel like I was robbed of the full Miami experience. So when I come back, I’m always like …” he continued, getting emotional again.
“Oh my God,” Kelly said, exasperated. “I thought for sure that story was going to end in ‘And they were all killed in a house fire, I was the sole survivor,’ in which case I would’ve excused the multiple tears that preceded it. What is that?”
The clip comes after Dokoupil encountered problems on his first official weeknight on air. The Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and CBS News staple was named the latest anchor of “CBS Evening News” in December.
Dokoupil’s appointment came after the 2024 departure of anchor Norah O’Donnell, who’d held the position since 2019, as well as the departures of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, the latter after 15 years at the network. Dokoupil had been cohosting “CBS Mornings” alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson since 2019.
Contributing: Edward Segarra, USA TODAY