Viewers of the NBC4 Thanksgiving Day broadcast have voiced their concern for anchor Leon Harris after he appeared to be slurring his words and missing the end of sentences.
Within the opening minutes of the show, the anchor seemed to struggle with the pronunciation of several street names and began chuckling to himself after multiple slip-ups, according to the Daily Mail.
The anchor continued to deteriorate throughout the two-minute piece as he stumbled over words and grappled with the teleprompter. It was reported that shortly after reading the 6pm headlines for the Washington DC area, Harris was taken off the air and replaced with weatherman Ryan Miller.
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After signing on, Miller stated the station had been flooded with “a lot” of messages from viewers voicing their concern for Harris. “We want to assure you that our colleague Leon Harris is fine,” said Miller. NBC4 has yet to issue an official statement.
Weeks prior, Harris stated that he was recovering from foot surgery and was taking time off of the air to recover after he reportedly broke his foot in five places. Several viewers expressed their concern about Harris on X.
One user stated that the anchor was “hard to watch.” They added “Leon Harris is one of the OGs in the DC local TV business. Hope he’s okay.” A second person said that they were “paying hes not having a stroke or anything of that nature. Prayers up for this man!’
Some viewers expressed that they were worried that the event was possibly related to Harris’ public battles with addiction, as he has spoken candidly about his past issues with alcohol. The former CNN anchor previously made headlines 10 years ago when he was arrested for a DUI in Montgomery County, Maryland, and was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence.
In 2022, Harris was arrested for a DUI in Montgomery County following a crash with another vehicle. According to the report made by the police, Harris was driving when he rear-ended a car which sent it into another car.
Officers who arrived at the scene said that no one was seriously injured at the scene, however, when they arrived they discovered the news anchor trying to escape. When Harris was finally stopped by the police, he allegedly failed a field sobriety test and recorded a .08% BAC- twice the legal limit- during a breathalyzer test, police said.
Harris then spent 10 days in jail and was taken off-air for a month while being investigated, and after receiving a one-year suspended jail sentence. Upon returning, he addressed viewers about the incident.
“Many of you know that I made a terrible mistake one night in January,’ he said to open the broadcast. “After drinking, I decided to get into my car and drive. This is the worst decision I could possibly have made.”
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Speaking to the network, Harris stated, “I thought after having about four glasses of wine I was good … I wasnt, nobody is going to be good after that.” Harris told his viewers was seeking daily therapy and “embracing sobriety,” and was seeing some “very tough professionals to get control of this disease called alcoholism.”
Harris was once again off-air in September when he had foot surgery and joked with viewers that he wished he had a “really good story” as to why he was taken off-air. “I wish it involved me saving a baby from a burning building or something like that. But, unfortunately, not the case,” he laughed, revealing he broke his foot in five places. “Whatever you do, do not run up and down stairs in socks.”
