A disgraced CNN anchor who was ousted from the journalism industry after she used the N-word in a private exchange with a black source died at 62 last week after a battle with lung cancer. Valerie Hoff DeCarlo served as an anchor on CNN from 1992 to 1999.
After leaving the network, she worked as both an anchor and consumer reporter at NBC-affiliate WXIA in Atlanta from 1999 to 2017, according to her LinkedIn profile, The New York Post reported.
In 2017, while pursuing a potential story about racial and police violence, Hoff DeCarlo referred to herself as a “news n—as” in a private message to a man who had posted a video she was trying to investigate.
The man, who was black, had previously written in a public post that many “news n—as” were trying to obtain the footage, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“If she is bold enough to say it to me, being an African American, then I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time she has used that word,” the man told the outlet.
Hoff DeCarlo attempted to explain that she was referring to herself as a “n—a.”
The man then asked for her manager or lawyer’s contact information, and the situation escalated when he posted the private messages online.
WXIA placed Hoff DeCarlo on a two-week suspension before she ultimately resigned, the outlet reported.
After leaving the station, she attempted to reenter journalism as a citizen reporter through her own blog, which has since been deleted.
Hoff DeCarlo was a married mother of two sons.
One of her children was adopted from Russia after she and her husband, Derrick DeCarlo, struggled with infertility, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituary.
She was known for blending personal and professional experiences in her reporting, including stories tied to her family’s adoption journey and her battle with breast cancer in 2013.
Hoff DeCarlo was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2024.
She had been organizing a family cruise trip and planning to host a Christmas party just weeks before she died, close friends told the outlet.
“She was a force with everything she did. She was a strong, capable, loving woman and a wonderful mother,” her husband said.