Was a Disheveled Judge Jeanine Pirro Tipsy After Fox News Show Delayed for 'Technical Difficulties'?

Jeanine Pirro’s Fox News show got a late start on Saturday night due to “technical difficulties” — but when the former New York state judge did appear nearly 15 minutes into her show, her usually perfectly coifed hair appeared disheveled and she seemed to many viewers to be tipsy in her verbal delivery.

“We apologize for the technical difficulties,” Pirro said when she finally appeared about a quarter into the one-hour broadcast after anchor Jackie Ibanez covered for her initial absence.

Pirro’s speaking was notably loose throughout the broadcast — which a network spokesperson attributed to the lack of a teleprompter in the host’s first broadcast from home. “Just the other … day the president talked, or was hoping, about the possibility of reopening everything on Easter Sunday, uh, in a way where we could kind of come out of this quarantine, as loose as it may be, that we’re involved in,” Pirro said at one point.

An individual close to the network “absolutely” denied that Pirro was intoxicated and said the former prosecutor does not even drink alcohol.

You can check out the short clip in the tweets below.

Judge Jeanine missed the first segment of her show tonight because of “technical difficulties” and then hosted the rest of it in this condition pic.twitter.com/KxGGBXUkly

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 29, 2020

Beyond parody. You can actually see Jeanine Pirro putting down her drink at the top of her show tonight…which was delayed due to “technical difficulties”. pic.twitter.com/5hOC11BFtM

— ElElegante101 (@skolanach) March 29, 2020

“Jeanine Pirro was broadcasting from her home for the first time when she encountered several technical difficulties which impacted the quality of her show, including the loss of a teleprompter,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday. “As we have previously said, we are operating with a reduced staff working remotely to ensure the health and safety of our employees in these unprecedented times.”

The insider also said Pirro did her own hair and makeup for Saturday’s show, noting that even in-studio talent is working with reduced hair and makeup staff as a result of pandemic protocols.

A good portion of the Twitterverse quickly had a field day with the episode of “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” with several noting similarities to Cecily Strong’s impression of a liquor-toting, drink-spilling Pirro on “Saturday Night Live.”

“Has anyone noticed that a number of Trump’s most passionate fans (“Judge” Jeanine, Giuliani, Kudlow) often appear to be drunk as a skunk when they defend him on TV?” asked Jeet Heer, a correspondent for The Nation.

New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica suggested that the show could be retitled “Happy Hour With Judge Jeanine.”

And actress Minnie Driver, using a vulgar British term for drunk, suggested Pirro was “the only fantastic side effect of #COVID19 sublime content” on Fox News.

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