{"id":461100,"date":"2026-06-04T19:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/461100\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:35:09","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-defends-scott-pelley-slams-cbs-as-trump-suck-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/461100\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel Defends Scott Pelley, Slams CBS as ‘Trump Suck-Ups’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJimmy Kimmel<\/a> is standing up for Scott Pelley after the longtime broadcast journalist was fired from \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPelley was cut from the newsmagazine program<\/a> after accusing newly appointed CBS News boss Bari Weiss of \u201cmurdering\u201d the show and saying new executive producer Nick Bilton has \u201cslender qualifications for this job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast night, the Trump suck-ups at CBS fired a great and deeply respected journalist, Scott Pelley, from his job at\u00a0\u201860 Minutes,’\u201d Kimmel said during his Wednesday night monologue<\/a>, \u201cbecause he stood up for truth and integrity at a show that\u2019s been the gold standard for broadcast journalism for 57 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKimmel said Pelley \u201chad enough\u201d after the \u201cclowns who now run that show and the CBS News division\u201d fired his colleagues, including Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. \u201cThat was it for Scott Pelley,\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cHe said the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. And he let him have it in a staff meeting right to the new guy\u2019s face.\u201d (Pelley\u2019s tirade against new \u201c60 Minutes\u201d leadership was leaked to the press<\/a>, and it resulted in a meeting the following day that led to his firing.)<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe president, of course, applauded this cowardly decision,\u201d Kimmel added, quipping: \u201cHe said Scott Pelley is part of a gang of crooked stupid people \u2014 different from the gang of crooked stupid people he\u2019s a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPelley, who joined \u201c60 Minutes\u201d in 2004, was fired after telling Bilton he would \u201cnever be welcome\u201d at the show, while questioning his qualifications in front of the editorial staff. After a meeting between Pelley and the program\u2019s new leadership, CBS decided to terminate his employment \u201cfor cause.\u201d Bilton wrote to Pelley in a letter obtained by the press, \u201cYesterday\u2019s performative display of hostility \u2014\u00a0enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation \u2014 demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a call with CBS News employees on Wednesday, Weiss defended the firing<\/a> and accused Pelley of breaking the staff\u2019s foundation of \u201ctrust and mutual respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPelley then issued his own statement, claiming that \u201cnew management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve been told to include assertions that are unverified,\u201d Pelley wrote. \u201cTo date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued, \u201cThe leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jimmy Kimmel is standing up for Scott Pelley after the longtime broadcast journalist was fired from \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,688,111,139,69,113764,437],"class_list":["post-461100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-jimmy-kimmel","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-scott-pelley","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}