Tony Dokoupil Has Awkward Flub in First Broadcast As CBS Evening News Anchor: ‘Big Problems Here’

CBS Evening News’ newest anchor, Tony Dokoupil, got off to a rough start in his first broadcast with an on-air flub that left some viewers scratching their heads.

After finishing up a segment on the Monday, January 5 broadcast, Dokoupil, 44, attempted to transition to a story about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. However, an image of Arizona Senator Mark Kelly appeared on screen.

“To other news, as you just heard from Jill, to other news now, to Governor Walz,” he said in the clip shared on social media. “No, we’re going do Mark Kelly. First day, first day, big problems here.”

Although he kept the moment light, Dokoupil had to ask the people behind the scenes if they were “going to Kelly” or “Jonah Kaplan,” who was presumably the one handling the Tim Walz story. The awkward moment led to about five seconds of silence on the air before they got things rolling and Dokoupil began reporting on the Kelly story.

However, the moment was missing from the episode that was posted on the CBS website, which was reportedly taken from the west coast feed, per Entertainment Weekly. In that version, the host smoothly transitions to the Kelly story.

As the National Enquirer previously reported, Dokoupil was named the new anchor of CBS Evening News on December 10, taking over after Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson announced their respective departures earlier in 2025. He joined CBS in 2016.