Additional Coverage:
- ‘Mean girl’ Megyn Kelly brutally mocks CBS’ Tony Dokoupil for crying on TV, causing uproar (irishstar.com)
Once again, Megyn Kelly has found herself in the center of a social media storm, this time for her outspoken critique of CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil. Kelly, known for her strong conservative views, dedicated a significant portion of her self-titled talk show to dissecting Dokoupil’s recent emotional display during an online-only segment.
The controversy stems from an online clip where Dokoupil, 45, became visibly tearful while discussing his childhood in Florida with CBS News Miami. While the segment did not air on the main CBS Evening News broadcast, it quickly circulated on the program’s social media channels, catching Kelly’s attention.
“There’s no crying in evening news,” Kelly, 55, declared at the top of her show, accompanied by guest Mark Halperin. She drew a distinction between Dokoupil’s tears and historical moments of on-air emotion, citing Walter Cronkite’s dignified composure during the coverage of President John F.
Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Kelly suggested that, traditionally, such emotional displays were reserved for events of profound national tragedy.
Kelly expressed her disbelief at witnessing Dokoupil’s tears, suggesting it signaled a “dawn of a new day” in news broadcasting that she found unsettling. She attributed this shift to Dokoupil’s appointment to CBS Evening News under what she described as the “divisive” leadership of CBS News chief Bari Weiss.
During her commentary, Kelly revisited past interviews conducted by Dokoupil on CBS, using them to further illustrate her disapproval of his reporting style. She also invoked the words of Adam Carolla, criticizing Dokoupil for what she perceived as contributing to the “feminization of the newsroom.”
Kelly and Halperin then proceeded to offer live, minute-by-minute reactions to the CBS News Miami clip. Kelly’s commentary was punctuated with exclamations such as “he’s crying,” “still crying,” “wiping his eye,” and “now his other eye,” as Dokoupil reflected on his challenging upbringing and admitted to a lack of sleep.
Upon the clip’s conclusion, Kelly delivered a blunt assessment: “Oh my God. It’s a no.”
She continued, “I thought for sure that story was going to end in, ‘And [my family in Florida] were all killed in a house fire and I was the sole survivor,’ in which case I would’ve excused the multiple tears that preceded it.” She questioned, “The sobbing?
The repeated voice quivering? The inability to recover?
What is that?”
However, Mark Halperin offered a degree of defense for Dokoupil, admitting his own empathy for becoming emotional when discussing family matters. Despite this, he did criticize CBS for releasing the footage as a promotional tool.
Kelly was quick to dismiss Halperin’s sympathy, pressing him with, “You would never cry like that on the air?”
Online, viewers were quick to react to Kelly’s comments, with many criticizing her stance. One user labeled her a “Brainless bimbo,” while another questioned the perceived hypocrisy, stating, “This was the same Megyn Kelly bawling like a little girl when she saw the Charlie Kirk footage?
Not to defend CBS talking heads, but fair is fair.” Other comments included, “Megyn is seriously a hater.
She’s a mean girl,” and “She’s bound and determined to be the biggest b—h on wheels in American media.”