Apparently, the bravest, most vital man in America, fired CBS journalist Scott Pelley, sat down for an interview with New York Occasions podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that aired Sunday (and taped Friday). It was a tour de power in rancorous vanity and legendary ranges of principal character syndrome as he denied believing his semi-public berating of 60 Minutes boss Nick Bilton and CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss would trigger him to lose his job.
A job, we might be taught, is on par with American troopers and even perhaps extra vital. And, as we additionally noticed, a career that’s inconceivable to him, nobody would have grounds to mistrust.
The interview started on an insensitive and jarring be aware as Pelley stated the upheaval at CBS Information was “like your partner was murdered” and, by means of misty eyes, asserted this isn’t “about me” and “I’m advantageous,” however “these people who I left behind…who’re nonetheless trapped.” This, he insisted, was “the depth of my devotion.”
Scott Pelley INSISTS “I’m advantageous” and that is “not about me,” however will get misty-eyed when saying being fired at CBS Information is “like your partner was murdered” and lots of instances he “frankly fall[s] aside” as a result of being married to somebody is identical “depth” of “devotion” he gave to CBS….… pic.twitter.com/srOqyUZn6g
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
Pelley defined “nobody noticed the Black Thursday bloodbath coming” by which government producer Tanya Simon, her deputy, different workers members, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega have been fired.
He stated it triggered “dismay” and “shock” to see colleagues he went to warfare with have been laid off. Pelley truly in contrast it to “when someone wipes out, murders a lot of your loved ones members, individuals are damage and shocked in disbelief and simply determined for some clarification.”
CBS’s Scott Pelley breaks down in tears over how colleagues he went “into liberal fight collectively” with abroad have been all fired, giving off emotions of “shock, dismay, not possible to consider”…
“Shock, dismay, not possible to consider, looking out desperately for an evidence,… pic.twitter.com/RhpiD6ARy0
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
Once more, how insensitive to those that’ve truly skilled that heartbreaking state of affairs. Not less than Pelley’s colleagues are nonetheless alive, and he has his sailboat.
To Garcia-Navarro’s credit score, she requested him to elucidate why he ignored earlier overtures from Bilton to speak as an alternative of blow himself up in entrance of your entire workers:
WATCH: Scott Pelley explains away his resolution to reject any and all overtures from Nick Bilton and Bari Weiss’s workforce concerning the ’60 Minutes’ adjustments, ready till the all-hands assembly to assault…
“I’m nearly 69 years outdated. And if I’ve realized one factor in life, it isn’t to… pic.twitter.com/np9GObrkmT
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
As for why he unleashed such anger at his bosses, he referred to as it “destiny” and broke down in tears when saying “newsrooms are form of just like the army” and have “life-threatening job[s]” with “very sturdy bonds” that demand “folks…go to warfare zones when…pregnant.”
He added Bari Weiss, Nick Bilton, and their lieutenants “have by no means felt that” of their lives (click on “develop”):
EYE ROLL: Scott Pelley says “it was destiny” that he selected to tear into his new bosses to their faces and cries AGAIN when saying “newsrooms are form of just like the army” and have “life-threatening job[s]” with “very sturdy bonds” that demand “folks…go to warfare zones… pic.twitter.com/pYD27PaKFd
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
It was destiny. To begin with, our total senior workers had been wiped on the market and on the market. I seemed across the room, I’m the one correspondent there, which shocked me very a lot. I realized that my colleagues have been out capturing tales as they need to be within the month of June. However I’m the one correspondent there, which shocked me. And I seemed round at my associates and colleagues within the room and realized I used to be the senior individual. Solely I might do it. None of them might be requested to take that threat. So, after I noticed Nick Bilton’s e mail after which noticed him studying to my broken-hearted folks off his cellphone, I felt that someone needed to rise up for the published, not simply the published, however the folks. There are folks in that room who go to warfare zones when they’re pregnant. [SOBBING] Newsrooms are form of just like the army or the police or the attractive folks on the FDNY down the road. It’s a life-threatening job in lots of situations. And really sturdy bonds, very emotional bonds are discovered or are developed in that type of setting. And to have folks working CBS Information who don’t know that, have by no means felt that, and don’t perceive it, is a tragedy I by no means anticipated to see.
One other embarrassing second got here when she twice questioned how Pelley couldn’t have realized attacking administration in such a approach wouldn’t have led to penalties.
Pelley stated it was the “furthest factor from my thoughts” and “it hadn’t occurred to me.” Thus, he stated, he “simply didn’t join the dots,” however stated his indignation was acceptable as a result of the collection of conferences final week have been “about whether or not 60 Minutes was even going to outlive”:
Lulu Garcia-Navarro: “But it surely actually didn’t happen to you that you might be fired after so a lot of your colleagues had been let go after you’d had this, you recognize, very contentious interplay together with your new boss?”
Scott Pelley: “You recognize, some reporter, I turned out to be. I simply… pic.twitter.com/rDtKTzJMgY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
As soon as he unspooled his recollections of his assembly with Cibrowski and Weiss earlier than his firing, Garcia-Navarro made one other try and have Pelley contemplate he went too far:
The vanity of this man…
Lulu Garcia-Navarro: “However, Scott, in a gathering, you accused Bari Weiss, the pinnacle of the community of eager to homicide the present, of coming into 60 Minutes with the agenda to dismantle the establishment. And also you didn’t suppose that that was going to have… pic.twitter.com/ZCiPXY1cyW
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
Zooming previous his preliminary recollections of David Ellison’s Skydance buying CBS’s mother or father firm Paramount, and the top of the Redstone household’s possession, Pelley once more confirmed his thick partitions of bias by conceding he had by no means heard of Bari Weiss previous to her hiring:
Scott Pelley says he had by no means even heard of Bari Weiss earlier than she was employed as CBS Information editor-in-chief pic.twitter.com/18W475MC23
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
Pelley rapidly got here to detest Weiss. Why? As a result of she said one thing Pelley discovered meritless, which was that growing numbers of People mistrust the media as a consequence of their bias:
WATCH: Right here’s the complete alternate of Scott Pelley saying he was “shocked” to listen to @BariWeiss or anybody say there’s a bias at CBS Information and the nation doesn’t belief the information media, insisting “we definitely didn’t consider that….”
Garcia-Navarro: “So, when Bari is available in, she has a… pic.twitter.com/c88dPEfWhc
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
Pelley disclosed one declare of interference from Weiss, which allegedly got here in a chunk he did on the Minneapolis unrest with immigration enforcement. He claimed Weiss tried to inform 60 Minutes that Renee Good tried to hit the officer together with her automotive, which Pelley refused to incorporate as a result of he believes the details confirmed in any other case:
Scott Pelley says, opposite to what President Trump, Bari Weiss, and others declare, there is not any proof Renee Good tried to hit ICE officer Jonathan Ross together with her automotive, however he shot her anyway pic.twitter.com/mSJyYT9idr
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
Pelley wept once more when declaring Weiss and CBS Information President Tom Cibrowski confirmed “breathtaking, full lack of empathy,” “callousness,” and “inhumanity” by letting go Tanya Simon as a result of her “household is famous at CBS Information.”
He reiterated the tears will not be “about me…however the folks I depart behind handled on this approach, that breaks my coronary heart. And it’s going to take me a very long time to recover from it.”
Scott Pelley cries once more when declaring CBS’s Bari Weiss and Tom Cibrowski confirmed “breathtaking, fully lack of empathy,” “callousness,” and “inhumanity” by letting go Tanya Simon as a result of her “household is famous at CBS Information.”
He once more insists the tears will not be “about me,”… pic.twitter.com/5WSjQDJjmF
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
A couple of minutes after he referred to as on the Ellison household to fireside Bari Weiss as a result of “[s]he brings an ideology into CBS Information the place that’s simply anathema,” Pelley cried but once more as a result of President Trump stated liberals like Pelley “don’t care about” America.
This gave Pelley the possibility to match himself to troopers and declare journalists like him are literally extra vital. Why? As a result of whereas each have “been in fight,” “[t]her isn’t any democracy with out journalism” (click on “develop”):
Scott Pelley sobs when he argues he’s similar to U.S. troops as a result of each go to warfare to serve the nation and may even be extra vital as a result of “there isn’t a democracy with out journalism”…
“Don’t care concerning the nation? [CRYING] I’ve by no means worn the uniform, however I’ve been in… pic.twitter.com/omB9uteXFq
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He went on a podcast and referred to as you a stiff…He additionally stated you have been a part of this gang of silly crooked people who don’t care about your nation.
PELLEY: Silly. I can take that. Stiff, yeah, in all probability. Don’t care concerning the nation? [CRYING] I’ve by no means worn the uniform, however I’ve been in fight for this nation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, been shot at. Spent nights in foxholes filling up with water within the desert. I’m not conscious that the President of the USA has ever executed any of these issues for his nation. Please right me if I’m unsuitable. You turn out to be a journalist since you love the First Modification. You turn out to be a journalist since you love the nation. And whereas all the opposite descriptions that the President used about me is likely to be relevant, not that one. [CRYING] There isn’t a democracy with out journalism. It could actually’t be executed. And that’s the reason I’m a journalist.
Pelley closed with what he hopes Paramount Skydance executives do sooner or later to finish this Weiss tenure by which “there’s a thumb on the size for” Donald Trump’s GOP and “there’s a delicate political bias that I’ve by no means seen” earlier than on the community.
The pomposity of this man…
“[T]hey don’t know what they’re doing, and there’s a delicate political bias that I’ve by no means seen at 60 Minutes earlier than, and so – or at CBS Information earlier than. And so, that’s my hope. A return to sanity, a return to honor, a return to braveness. We used to have… pic.twitter.com/XwOrOMcFr0
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 7, 2026
“[T]hat is my hope. A return to sanity, a return to honor, a return to braveness. We used to have all of these issues in abundance. And now, we don’t. We are able to save this. It’s doable to land this airplane. However proper now, CBS Information, for my part, is on fireplace,” he concluded.
To see the transcript of the Pelley interview from June 7 (taped June 5), click on right here.
