Diane Sawyer Mocked on Twitter for Slurring Speech During Election Coverage

People took notice of Diane Sawyer’s coverage of the presidential election on ABC News, but not necessarily in the way the veteran journalist intended.

While speaking with such colleagues as George Stephanopoulos and Barbara Walters, a number of viewers noticed what they believed to be Sawyer slurring words. Twitter lit up, and Sawyer became a trending term Tuesday night.

STORY: Election Night: Diane Sawyer, Karl Rove Add a Dose of Weirdness to Obama Win

A number of people characterized Sawyer’s speech as resembling that of someone who had been drinking or taken muscle relaxers. 

“Diane Sawyer’s name is trending. Many people saying she seems drunk on air. Alternative theory: she gets this way when she’s really tired,” tweeted New York Times reporter Brian Stelter.

The Secret Circle executive producer Andrew Miller tweeted: “Diane Sawyer is either drunk or doing her classic Julia Childs as Katherine Hepburn impression.

Find tweets of other reactions to Sawyer’s election night performance below.

Katie Couric just said that Diane Sawyer has a Twitter account. Someone get on that.

— Tim Goodman (@BastardMachine) November 7, 2012

And Diane Sawyer declares tonight’s winner is… chardonnay!

— They Might Be Giants (@tmbg) November 7, 2012

I wonder who’s drunker, Chicago or Diane Sawyer…

— Cezz (@thecerrashow) November 7, 2012

20 million tweets about election night.. I think 19 million are about Diane Sawyer.

— ellenkmartin (@ellenkmartin) November 7, 2012

Diane Sawyer is either drunk or doing her classic Julia Childs as Katherine Hepburn impression.

— Andrew Miller (@MillerLoLife) November 7, 2012

Yeah. Diane Sawyer’s giving off a bit of a “Will McAvoy on Bin Ladin Night” vibe if you know what I mean.

— Daniel Fienberg (@HitFixDaniel) November 7, 2012

Seriously, one of Dianne Sawyer’s eyes is closed.

— Greg Bennett (@GreggyBennett) November 7, 2012

Diane Sawyer doing a great Miss Hannigan right now on ABC

— Warren Leight (@warrenleightTV) November 7, 2012

Philiana Ng contributed to this report.