by Sharelle Burt

June 20, 2023

‘The Only White Guy Is Off Today?’ Gayle King Calls Out White Co-Host Absent From Work On Juneteenth

CBS Mornings host Gayle King had to point some things out about her co-host Tony Dukoupil before she got to the day’s news on Juneteenth.

Accompanied by fellow Black co-hosts Nate Burleson and Vladimir Duthiers, King took the time to recognize that their only white co-host, Dukoupil, was missing from the news desk. “Happy Juneteenth to you! Is it lost on anybody that the only white guy at the table is off today?” King laughed. “And we’re still here….I hope Tony is enjoying his Juneteenth holiday!”

Burleson and Duthiers laughed along with the culturally appropriate joke as Burleson quickly added, “Tony, we love you.” With the clip going viral, of course, Twitter users had some things to say, both positive and negative.

Some users made light of Dukoupil’s absence, imagining what he might have been doing on the newly celebrated federal holiday. One compared it to another video that went viral of a white man singing along to a popular Kevin Gates song.

Another user called CBS out for allowing Dukoupil to be absent and not the Black co-hosts. “Damn @CBSNews yall wrong for that,” @iluvdaCowbys said. Others laughed at the comments, but some pointed out that comments like this could be damaging to King’s job. “If she gets fired in a few months it’s because of this but they’ll make up some excuse,” @MsJordannS tweeted. 

Dokoupil has been co-anchoring the morning news show for almost five years, according to Deadline. Burleson, a former NFL player and sports commentator, joined the team two years later, and King has had her seat at the anchor desk since 2011.


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