Megyn Kelly slammed Tony Dokoupil’s first days hosting “CBS Evening News” – and the weaker ratings he brought in – by giving him a new nickname on Wednesday.
On the latest episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” the host referred to Dokoupil as “Toprah” because of the anchor’s attempts to “therapize” the audience during his show. Kelly said she remains unconvinced that Bari Weiss’s choice for the face of “CBS Evening News” is going to pan out.
“‘Toprah’ Dokoupil, that’s what I call him because he’s crying and constantly trying to therapize us through the news,” she explained. “I figured it out. Bari is an out lesbian, and she’s in a marriage to another woman, and they have kids and so on. This is a lesbian’s idea of what women want. Like, he’s sweet, he’s soft, this is what is going to sell. No, no, no, no, no, no. We want someone with balls, with a spine, someone who will protect us, somebody who, when the burglar comes, will be the first out the door. They won’t be hiding behind us like that.”
Kelly added: “Oh my God, the patronization. He’s giving Stuart Smalley vibes: ‘We’re good enough. We’re smart enough. And gosh darn it, people like us.’ I cannot get over how he continues to patronize the audience like, ‘Oh, you know what? You may not agree with us on everything, but that’s okay, you don’t have to. We’re gonna make sure you have the–’ just f–king deliver the news.”
Dokoupil began his stint as “CBS Evening News” host at the top of the year, with his first week of Jan. 5-11 averaging 4.17 million viewers, according to Nielsen big data plus panel live-plus-same-day figures. That’s down 23% from the same week last year, which saw the program score 5.4 million viewers from Jan. 6-10, 2025.
“CBS Evening News” also saw a 23% year-over-year decrease in the 25-54 demo, with the week of Jan. 5-11 averaging 533,000 as compared to the 690,000 demo viewers averaged by the show during the first week of 2025.
A slight year-over-year downtick is to be expected due to declining linear viewership, however, with all networks seeing ratings decreases. The ratings did manage to boost the season-to-date averages for CBS News, with total viewers up 4% while demo viewers were up by 8%.
