Victor Blackwell

Victor Blackwell was born in 1981 in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating high school as class president, he studied broadcast journalism in college at Howard University and later interned for his local news station. He then went on to complete many reporting jobs at local news stations, and after he moved to Florida, he became the first Black person to serve as WPBF 25 (Jacksonville’s News Station) main anchor. While at WPBF, Blackwell was nominated for several awards for reporting, and even won the 2009 regional Emmy for Outstanding Feature Reporting. In 2012, Blackwell left the news station for CNN, where he won several more awards. Blackwell called out racism from President Donald Trump in response to his remarks about  Elijah Cummings, a Black congressman. He began co-hosting “CNN Newsroom” in 2021, and has covered several breaking news stories, including the protests following Geroge Floyd’s murder and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando. Blackwell came out as gay in 2013, and has been a vocal LGBTQ community supporter.