CNN's John King reveals he has multiple sclerosis, applauds vaccine mandates

CNN's John King revealed an important health update: he has multiple sclerosis.

The announcement came during Tuesday's "Inside Politics," when King said he was "going to share a secret I've never shared before" while discussing COVID-19 vaccine mandates and Colin Powell, who died from COVID-19-related complications after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer that makes it difficult to fight infections.

"I am immunocompromised. I have multiple sclerosis," the CNN anchor said. "So I'm grateful you're all vaccinated. I am grateful my employer says all of these amazing people who work on the floor, who came in here in the last 18 months when we are doing this, are vaccinated now that we have vaccines."

King noted he also is hesitant about spreading COVID-19 to his 10-year-old son, who is currently not eligible to receive a vaccine.

"I don’t like the government telling me what to do. I don’t like my boss telling me what to do. In this case, it’s important," he said.

King recognized that on Monday "we lost a national treasure (Powell), but said there have also been 726,196 people who've died from COVID-19 in the U.S.

"Those are all treasures, that's somebody's mother, brother, father, sister, co-worker, colleague, friend, teammate," King said. "Focus on the science. Man up or shut up."

King rose to social media fame during the 2020 elections when he spent hours operating CNN's "magic wall," an interactive presidential election-results map. While providing commentary on the unfolding stressful presidential race, King repeatedly used the catchphrase, "This is fun."

Twitter was on edge over his cheery adjective, as most people who were watching the elections were not having "fun."

More: CNN's John King is the only one having 'fun' on Election Day: Viewers react to catchphrase

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CNN anchor John King reveals he has multiple sclerosis