Heather Kovar, an Albany, New York newscaster, is going viral for all the wrong reasons.
According to the New York Post, Kovar was suspended after a bizarre newscast on Saturday in which she looked disheveled and was slurring her words.
In clips from the broadcast, WRGB-TV anchor Kovar can be seen rambling and shifting back and forth between topics with little rhyme or reason.
“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,” she says at one point.
In one segment, she also misidentified the weatherman as Craig Adams, another meteorologist at the station, as opposed to Craig Gold.
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
In a statement late Sunday, she blamed a family tragedy, a double-shift and sleep deprivation for the troubling footage.
“On Friday, I notified the station I would not be renewing my contract which expires July 31,” Kovar said.
“Saturday I was scheduled to work the early morning 6 a.m. shift and the evening shift. I was sleep-deprived and exhausted.”
Social media users were less kind to Kovar, however, pointing toward some kind of substance abuse issue.
“She drank a double,” one tweet reported by the Washington Examiner read.
“Glad to see people enjoying themselves and managing to get to work early morning, with cocktail confidence,” another said.
However, Mike Sington — the former NBC Universal executive who posted the initial clip — said there was evidence she wasn’t being given minimum turnaround time guaranteed by SAG-AFTRA industry standards and noted a source “tells me there’s a toxic work culture” at he station.
…(Heather Kovar, cont.), which is owned by Sinclair. Producer alleges mistreatment by News Director, and 75% of producing/talent quitting between Jan and April, as this producer did. So bad, CBS 6 Albany brought in producers from other Sinclair stations to get the newscast on.
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 11, 2022
The station announced her suspension on Sunday, however, potentially pointing to a different explanation.
“Heather Kovar has been suspended pending our internal investigation,” their statement read. “We have no further comment at this time.”