Diane Sawyer Drunk Rumor Explodes On Twitter

Poor Diane Sawyer.

ABC's lead journalist was getting all the wrong kinds of attention during her anchoring of the network's Tuesday night election coverage. Rather than praising her handling of all of the incoming information, a rumor raced around on Twitter that she was drunk.

What was the evidence? Well, it was mostly her voice, which got a little loud and a little slow, and her seeming fixation on the network's patented results music. She also stumbled over her words a bit, calling President Obama "Barack Orama" for a second.

Of course, things got a little rough on Twitter:

There was even the routine business of the fake "Drunk Diane Sawyer" Twitter feed:

The New York Times' Brian Stelter gallantly stepped in front of the horde:

But it was not enough, as the meme spread. Even the staid Associated Press got into the act.