CBS’s Tony Dokoupil offers ‘regrets’ to tearful staff meeting after grilling anti-Israel author

“CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil told staff members during an emotional meeting that he was “sorry” for putting them in a difficult position amid the network’s beer scandal over his grilling an anti-Israel author, The Post has learned.

The embattled anchor spoke at Tuesday’s staff-only meeting, which was not attended by co-anchors Gayle King and Nate Burleson, a day after he was reprimanded by CBS for his heated meeting with Ta- Nehsi Coates, a source with knowledge said. .

“Tony said he regretted putting his colleagues in this position, especially those overseas and in danger,” the source told The Post.

“There were tears. (People were) very upset,” the source continued, adding that staff are “divided” over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and were “concerned” by how Dokoupil challenged Coates last week .

Dokoupil, however, did not back down from his pointed questioning of Coates about his new book during the 11:30 a.m. meeting, which was moderated by “CBS Mornings” executive producer Shawna Thomas, the sources

A second source said some black staff members who attended the meeting criticized Burleson and King for remaining tight-lipped about the matter.

Dokoupil held a private meeting Monday with his co-hosts in his office at 1515 Broadway, the second source said. Details of the 30-minute pow-wow were not immediately available.

Dokoupil did not return requests for comment.

CBS News declined to comment.

In the days leading up to Tuesday’s meeting, the source said, members of the “CBS Mornings” staff complained to higher-ups at the network about the reporter’s treatment of Coates, who was promoting his latest book, ” The message”.

The book condemns what he called Israeli “apartheid” in its administration of territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Dokoupil, a convert to Judaism whose ex-wife lives in Israel with their two children, criticized Coates, saying the book “wouldn’t be out of place in an extremist’s backpack” because of its characterization of Israel

During a staff meeting Monday, on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack that killed 1,400 in Israel, CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and president of content development Adrienne Roark called out Dokoupil for bringing his “bias” to the interview, adding that it did not meet the network’s editorial standards, according to Puck News and Free Press reports by Bari Weiss.

On Tuesday, Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS parent Paramount Global, was outraged by how executives handled the situation, saying it was insensitive to address the matter Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Free Press published leaked audio of Monday’s meeting, which also included criticism from CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford, who criticized the executives’ statement to employees.

“It looks like we’re calling out one of our anchors in a somewhat public setting on this call for not meeting editorial standards, I’m not even sure what,” she said.

“I thought our commitment was to the truth. And when someone goes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges that he has done, I understand that as journalists we are obliged to challenge that view of the world so that our viewers can have that access to the truth or a fuller account, a more balanced account. And to me, that’s what Tony did.”

Puck News reported Monday afternoon that to address the uproar at “CBS Mornings,” the network was planning to call in DEI consultant Dr. Donald Grant to lead Tuesday’s staff discussion.

But The Post revealed Grant’s controversial views, including a social media post by the self-proclaimed “mental health expert” of an altered cover of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic slavery novel “The Cabin of Uncle Tom,” with Donald’s face. Trump-supporting South Carolina Senator Tim Scott photoshopped the images of several other characters.

The post on Grant’s Instagram account, which he posted earlier this year, changed the title to “Uncle Tim’s Cabin” and also included a picture of conservative commentator Candace Owens.

At the time, CBS News declined to comment on The Post’s report and Grant’s Instagram. On Tuesday, Puck reported that the decision to bring in Grant had escalated amid talk that sparked outrage from critics, as well as a fundraising effort by Scott using Grant’s photoshopped book cover.

“The disgusting rhetoric above is EXACTLY what awaits us if we allow the radical, intolerant left to win,” Scott wrote on the fundraising platform Win Red.