{"id":366676,"date":"2026-01-12T20:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T20:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/366676\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T20:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T20:21:11","slug":"david-letterman-calls-cbs-news-a-wreck-under-newly-installed-leadership-david-letterman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/366676\/","title":{"rendered":"David Letterman calls CBS News a \u2018wreck\u2019 under newly installed leadership | David Letterman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former CBS late-night host David Letterman<\/a> has criticized his old network, calling its news division a \u201cwreck\u201d under its newly installed leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way, what about those idiots at CBS?\u201d Letterman, 78, said in a clip<\/a> posted to his YouTube channel on Friday from his appearance on The Barbara Gaines Show, a podcast hosted by his former executive producer.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cCBS News is a wreck \u2013 it\u2019s just gone. CBS<\/a> News, for decades, going back to [the second world war], before [it], Ed Murrow would be broadcasting the blitz of London from the rooftop of buildings in London for CBS Radio, and it was that mentality that drove the integrity of CBS News, that has been trampled on, pissed on, and eviscerated by these idiots that have taken it over.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m at a point now where it really is hurting my feelings, because I\u2019m sick and tired of people saying: \u2018Oh, wait until those midterms.\u2019 Kids, we\u2019re far downstream of the midterms having any effect on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Letterman\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

Those remarks come amid sweeping changes at CBS News in recent months, amid the finalized merger<\/a> of the network\u2019s parent company Paramount with Skydance Media, founded by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison.<\/p>\n

In July, Paramount reached a<\/a> $16m settlement with Donald Trump<\/a> over a CBS 60 Minutes interview that aired during the 2024 election which vaulted Trump to a second presidency. And as Paramount sought approval from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the merger, CBS announced it was cancelling<\/a> The Late Show With Stephen Colbert \u2013 just days after the host criticized Paramount\u2019s settlement with Trump.<\/p>\n

Then, in October, several months after the merger was finalized, Paramount named Bari Weiss <\/a>as the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss did not have any television experience<\/a>, and it was announced that the company would acquire her startup the Free Press, which became known for criticizing \u201cwoke\u201d \u2013 or left-leaning \u2013 culture.<\/p>\n

CBS employees have<\/a> since described Weiss\u2019s first few months on the job as chaotic.<\/p>\n

In December, she hosted a town hall with Erika Kirk<\/a>, the widow of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which reportedly drew weak ratings<\/a>. Weiss also overhauled the evening news broadcast, installing Tony Dokoupil<\/a> as anchor, and soon abruptly terminated<\/a> one of the show\u2019s top producers, causing confusion in the newsroom.<\/p>\n

Also in December, Weiss faced backlash after indefinitely shelving a 60 Minutes<\/a> investigation into a notorious prison in El Salvador<\/a>, citing issues<\/a> including a lack of a response from the Trump administration<\/a>. The decision prompted outrage<\/a>, and earlier in January it was reported<\/a> that a group of former CBS News journalists sent a letter to Ellison expressing concerns over the decision to pull the broadcast.<\/p>\n

In the podcast clip, Letterman also addressed the brief suspension <\/a>of Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night show in September, which followed pressure from two of ABC\u2019s biggest affiliate partners, Nexstar and Sinclair, as well as the FCC. Kimmel\u2019s suspension ended in part after calls to boycott products of ABC\u2019s owner, Disney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat people don\u2019t understand [is] Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> single-handedly brought the people at Disney, and all of those other network television owners, to their knees,\u201d Letterman said in the clip. \u201cJimmy Kimmel singlehandedly made them seem \u2026 to be the fools they are and continues to call attention to the plight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letterman also said NBC late-night host Seth Meyers was \u201cvery good, and I\u2019m telling you, we\u2019re running out of places where you hear these voices\u201d. He lamented \u201cStephen Colbert and that franchise\u201d going, as he put it, \u201cadios\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had a president \u2026 who was a Democrat and behaved the way this Republican president is behaving, Jimmy would be attacking the Democrat just as much as he attacks\u201d Trump, Letterman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not like it\u2019s all politically driven. It\u2019s driven by the behavior the person in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former CBS late-night host David Letterman has criticized his old network, calling its news division a \u201cwreck\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-366676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}