CBS Anchor Tony Dokoupil Abruptly Halts Live Broadcast After Medical Emergency Erupts Behind the Scenes During Trump China Coverage
Tony Dokoupil interrupted the CBS Evening News broadcast after a medical emergency off-screen.
May 14 2026, Published 11:45 a.m. ET
Tony Dokoupil was forced to abruptly interrupt his live broadcast of the CBS Evening News on Wednesday, May 13, when a crew member became ill, RadarOnline.com can report.
The anchor, who was broadcasting live from Taiwan and President Trump's overseas China summit, was in the middle of delivering his closing segment when a cameraman apparently collapsed.
Behind-The-Scenes Panic Erupts
A cameraman had fallen ill and a doctor was called.
Dokoupil was reading a voiceover while a video of what he called a "powerful new China" played on screen, when a dull thud could be heard in the background, derailing the anchor.
"Is he ok?" the 45-year-old immediately asked a producer, before telling viewers, "We're going to take a quick break, we have a medical emergency here."
After a few moments of silence, Dokoupil could be heard on the mic, likely telling someone in the control room that they were "calling a doctor."
The feed quickly switched back to New York, where CBS News Chief Correspondent Matt Gutman signed off on Dokoupil's behalf.
The network provided an update Wednesday night, tweeting on X: "Tonight during the final segment of CBS Evening News, our cameraman on set suffered a medical emergency. Thankfully, he's okay and recovering."
Tony's Tough Start Continues
Matt Gutman wrapped up the broadcast from the New York studio.
The unfortunate situation was just the latest in what has been a rollercoaster ride and ratings disaster for Dokoupil and CBS, since his January debut.
The wheels came off almost immediately for Dokoupil, who had a visible meltdown during his first official broadcast on January 5.
After opening the telecast with the latest on the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Dokoupil found himself making news when he became confused about which story to cover next: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's announcement that he would not seek reelection or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's censure of Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.
The 45-year-old tried to stammer through a segue.
"To other news, as you just heard from Jill... to other news now, to Gov. Walz," he said as Kelly's photo appeared over his shoulder. "No, we're gonna do Mark Kelly."
That was followed by an awkwardly long silence before the CBS crew finally settled on the Kelly story.
As the video of Kelly started to run, a clearly confused Dokoupil shook his head and smirked, before melting down: "First day, big problems here."
Getting Trumped by Trump
Dokoupil had a rough first week and has not recovered.
It didn't get any easier for the anchor, who was handpicked by new MAGA-friendly editor-in-chief Bari Weiss to bring an "anti-woke" approach to the broadcast. That was supposed to be highlighted by an early one-on-one interview with President Trump, but that backfired when the president seemed to mock the anchor's paycheck and job security.
Shortly after his January debut, Dokoupil joined the president for an exclusive tour of a Ford plant in Detroit. While speaking with Trump, the new anchor asked about the economy and mentioned the continuously rising gas prices.
That set the president off, who replied with his familiar talking points, only this time, tailored to Dokoupil and his own job security.
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Dokoupil on the Defensive
Dokoupil had a fiery confrontation with Donald Trump in Detroit.
"We now have the hottest country in the world. And a year and a half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country," he told Dokoupil, before bringing up his prediction about what would have happened if Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election.
He continued: "You wouldn't have a job right now. If she got in, you probably wouldn't have a job right now. Your boss, who's an amazing guy, might be bust, okay?"
His boss, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, is a friend of Trump's, who had promised to bring more conservative reporting to the network.
Trump continued: "Let me just tell you, you wouldn't have this job. You wouldn't have this job, certainly, whatever the h-- they're paying you. Our country is rocketing right now. We have the hottest country in the world. If they got in, we would be Venezuela on steroids."
Dokoupil, evidently rattled by the president's charge, came back to his comments at the very end of their discussion, telling Trump: "For the record, I do think I'd have this job even if the other guys won."
Without hesitation, Trump fired back: "Yeah, but at a lesser salary. Thank you very much."
