On Monday, CBS Mornings was the only flagship morning show across the broadcast networks to mention Sunday’s Oscars started six minutes late due to the latest band of pro-Hamas protesters demanding a ceasefire by Israel against the terrorist organization holding dozens of innocents hostage.
Better yet, co-host Tony Dokoupil made two simple observations about their lack of concern for Jewish lives that left his co-hosts awkwardly pining to move on.
After featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers explained what happened and co-host Gayle King remarked “That’s a way to get attention, right there at the Oscars,” Dokoupil sounded off and thankfully shut down what too often happens with journalists dispassionately reporting these demonstrations as if they’re no different than any other protest when, in fact, it’s not.
“And, again — again, no one asked Hamas to surrender. No one asked Hamas to release the hostages. I didn’t see any signs that said that. I have questions,” he explained, implicitly pointing out that these radicals weren’t actually calling for peace but rather for Israel to capitulate.
A tad skittish with Dokoupil’s asides, co-host Nate Burleson kept silent, King mumbled, “Yes” and Duthiers said, “That’s right,” before Duthiers awkwardly tried to move on: “Yeah. Well, that’s why — the question of why it started late was because the protest.”
This back-and-forth began at the start of the show’s “What to Watch” segment with King being heard on a hot mic blurting out, “Cause the show started late” and featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers saying, “Exactly right.”
Dokoupil awkwardly tried to bring viewers into the conversation, noting the Oscars started “an hour earlier” and not 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
“Yeah, but, at 7:00, I’m sitting there, waiting. It didn’t come on until 7:06. They had all these commercials. I kept thinking what’s happening here,” King fretted.
Duthiers then explained the brief hold-up as the first of several “nuggets you may have missed” from last night’s Academy Awards:
[L]ast night’s ceremony began five minutes late because of protests over Israel’s war in Gaza. Hundreds of demonstrators shut down a major intersection near the Dolby Theater. You can see...images here...where the ceremony was taking place. It caused major gridlock and forced some guests to arrive late.
Duthiers huffed that “many...demonstrators called for a ceasefire in Gaza,” adding “[t]hese protests have been happening everywhere, showing you continuously the anger that people have about what is happening.”
Once he delivered the details, Dokoupil sounded off and played what, based on how his fellow co-hosts reacted, the skunk at the garden party for dispensing with giving these hooligans their due.
For the unaware, Hamas’s terror attacks on October 7 and the subsequent war are personal for Dokoupil given the fact that he has two teenagers who are Israeli and live there with his ex-wife.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from March 11, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
March 11, 2024
7:46 a.m. EasternGAYLE KING: Cause the show started late!
TONY DOKOUPIL: Mr. Duthiers —
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS [TO KING]: Exactly right.
DOKOUPIL: — late but also a little early. I mean, an hour earlier. Usually I’m used to the Oscars starting at 8:00.
DUTHIERS: Yeah, well —
KING: Yeah, but, at 7:00, I’m sitting there, waiting. It didn’t come on until 7:06. They had all these commercials. I kept thinking what’s happening here.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: What to Watch; Gaza War Protests Delay Oscars]
DUTHIERS: Let me explain what was going on because we have a little special edition of What to Watch — some of the nuggets you may have missed. So, to your point, last night’s ceremony began five minutes late because of protests over Israel’s war in Gaza. Hundreds of demonstrators shut down a major intersection near the Dolby Theater. You can see —
KING: Oh, I was wondering.
DUTHIERS: — images here — yeah — where the ceremony was taking place. It caused major gridlock and forced some guests to arrive late. Many of the demonstrators called for a ceasefire in Gaza. These protests have been happening everywhere, showing you continuously the anger that people have about what is happening.
KING: Well, that’s a way to get attention —
DOKOUPIL: And, again —
KING: — right there at the Oscars.
DOKOUPIL: — again, no one asked Hamas to surrender.
KING: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: No one asked Hamas to release the hostages.
DUTHIERS: That’s right.
DOKOUPIL: I didn’t see any signs that said that. I have questions.
DUTHIERS: Yeah. Well, that’s why — the question of why it started late was because the protest.
NATE BURLESON: Yeah.
DOKOUPIL: So, we have that answer at least.
BURLESON: Yeah.
