Tony Dokoupil, who assumed the role of CBS Evening News anchor in January 2026, had an unconventional childhood in Florida that included a father who was a drug dealer
Tony Dokoupil’s shocking childhood has come to light(Image: CBS via Getty Images)
CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil has faced backlash for much of his reporting since assuming his new role at the network, and now, more about his childhood and background has given viewers another reason to gasp over him.
Dokoupil, 45, has had a rough start since assuming control as the anchor of the evening news show on CBS in January 2026, with several tense news events unfolding with ICE raids in Minneapolis, as well the U.S. Invasion of Venezuela and removal of Nicolas Maduro.
As viewers have branded him several different ways, including as a “complete embarrassment’ following a cringe-worthy interview with his own mom, more has to come to light about Dokoupil’s past.
In an early January interview with The Miami Herald, Dokoupil opened up about his life in Miami, Florida, where he moved as an infant with his parents.
However, he also revealed that the family’s reason for moving was because of his father’s “career” as a marijuana dealer.
DoKoupil had previously discussed the story in a 2014 book, The Last Pirate, which detailed life in South Miami-Dade as his father dealt drugs, something that eventually saw him serve a year and a half in custody after pleading guilty to distribution charges.
Dokoupil opened up about his childhood in an interview with the Miami herald(Image: CBS Evening News)
In the interview, he joked that his father’s nefarious dealings afforded him a decent education in private school, which partially allowed him to pursue the career he did.
“Dad had no reason to be in Miami, except that it was the Wall Street of American weed,” he said. “My mom, God bless her, was smart enough to know [the money] wasn’t going to last forever, and material things can be confiscated. But education can never be taken away.”
His parents eventually split up after his father skipped town when his legal troubles began heating up. He and his mother, Ann, then relocated to the Annapolis, Maryland, area, right before Hurricane Andrew’s arrival Miami in 1992.
Tony Dokoupil’s father was a drug dealer in Miami at the time(Image: CBS Evening News)
The new information about his past comes after Dokoupil left his original gig on CBS Mornings and was given the job on the Evening show by new CBS News lead Bari Weiss.
The role was previously held by Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson, with other personalities including Scott Pelley, Norah O’Donnell, Katie Couric and Dan Rather helming the program. Rather took over from news legend Walter Cronkite in 1981, after the former’s nearly 20-year run as anchor.
After Dokoupil was announced as the show’s new host, he put out a message that suggested mainstream organization were not always reliable sources of information, which led some to say he was “MAGA-Coded.”
“A lot has changed since the first person sat in this chair,” he said in a New Year’s Day teaser.
Tony Dokoupil(Image: CBS via Getty Images)
“But for me, the biggest difference is people do not trust us like they used to. And it’s not just us. It’s all of legacy media. The point is, on too many stories, the press has missed the story.”
Since then, viewers have expressed negative opinions of his broadcasts, including following the death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, at the hands of Border Patrol agents.
