TV news anchor in the US suspended after shocking broadcast

A TV news anchor shocked viewers over the weekend when she slurred her words and appeared dishevelled during a broadcast.

A TV news anchor in the US shocked viewers over the weekend when she slurred her words and appeared dishevelled during an evening broadcast – and now she has been suspended from her job.

Heather Kovar, a CBS 6 anchor, was jittery and wide-eyed on-air on Saturday, and at times incoherent, the New York Post reports.

At one point while trying to pivot between segments, Kovar said: “And so, moving on tonight, is we have to tell you also, you know, like other news that’s happening in the area, and across the area, in the nation.”

TV news anchor Heather Kovar was suspended after slurring her way through a broadcast on Saturday.

She also began having trouble while discussing an explosion at a natural-gas plant in Oklahoma, stumbling on her words.

She quickly changed subjects during the report, too, saying bizarrely, “Well, hello! Good afternoon!

“Like, I was telling you this morning, if you watched us this morning starting at 6am, 7am, I told you, you know what? Today, what a beautiful day outside! It is just amazing. And so, a great time for outdoor music.”

She was clearly also having some technical issues during the segment and seen holding a wire at one point during the broadcast. She was ultimately cut off from speaking mid-sentence.

The news anchor could not be reached by The Post on Sunday.

Viewers expressing concern over train wreck of local evening newscast out of Albany. Anchor Heather Kovar appeared disheveled, misspoke, and slurred her words for the entire newscast. Here, she tries to set up the weather and toss to the meteorologist, who’s name she gets wrong. pic.twitter.com/70jwwvykKt

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 10, 2022

The station said she was suspended pending further investigation.

Kovar had said on Twitter on Saturday that she would be back on the air Sunday morning, but she did not appear on the station’s broadcast and instead was replaced by colleague Emma Quinn, who did not return a request for comment.

CBS 6, also referred to as WRGB, is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Company. Kovar has been an anchor for the network since July 2016.

Online, some local viewers expressed concern for the newsreader.

Kovar recently returned from leave, during which she was tending to her father before his passing.

“I hope Heather [is] ok … she looks a wreck and she is slurring,” someone wrote on Twitter.

Some were worried she might have been having a medical issue.

Kovar recently returned from leave, during which time she was caring for her father before his death, according to the Times Union of Albany.

She wrote in a May Facebook post: “The station has graciously allowed me to take some time off to be with my family in Texas.” He passed away that month, according to her social media.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission