Tony Dokoupil Fights Back Tears During Hometown Broadcast in Miami: ‘It Makes Me Emotional’ | Video

Tony Dokoupil struggled to keep his emotions in check during an on-camera interview in his hometown of Miami, Florida.

The new anchor for “CBS Evening News” gave an interview from South Florida as part of his “Live From America” tour commemorating his first official week at the network. However, amid one on-camera segment, the broadcaster admitted his homecoming was more emotional than he expected it to be.

“It makes me emotional,” Dokoupil said to CBS Miami’s Lauren Pastrana while choking back tears on Tuesday. “It’s so funny. I didn’t think it would catch — you know … you only have one childhood.”

Dokoupil asked “for a second” before continuing on with the segment, in which he joked that he didn’t “get a lot of sleep” heading into his first week on the job — an apparent reference to him being called into the role early on Saturday amid U.S. military action in Venezuela.

He continued: “My grandmother’s here. My father, my mother, my aunts and uncles, cousins, it’s where I would’ve spent all of my childhood, but we left because of my father. He got into some trouble with business. We laugh about it now, but he was a drug dealer. He went to jail.”

Per Dokoupil, it was “so emotional” for him to be back in South Florida as he felt that he was “robbed of the full Miami experience.”

Once again overpowered by his emotions, Dokoupil tearfully added: “So, when I come back, I’m always like, I really love it here … This should’ve been my home for the whole stretch. So, to have it and then to lose it, just kind of rocks me.”

Dokoupil’s vulnerability was met with mixed reviews online, with some on X praising the anchor as a “star,” while others blasted the newsman for doing a “puff piece” amid this politically charged climate.

One X user bluntly responded to the clip with, “This is not news.”

Back in his hometown of Miami for the new CBS Evening News, @tonydokoupil took a moment to reflect on his childhood there — in an emotional conversation with @CBSMiami’s Lauren Pastrana. pic.twitter.com/eObHyP9aWW

— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) January 7, 2026

Watch the interview highlight above.

“CBS Evening News” airs weeknights at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS.

The post Tony Dokoupil Fights Back Tears During Hometown Broadcast in Miami: ‘It Makes Me Emotional’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.