John Oliver wasted no time getting into the headlines during the evening’s Last Week Tonight episode, addressing one of the big pieces of news over the weekend: the continuing fallout of CBS News‘ ousting of longtime correspondent Scott Pelley.
“CBS News fired Scott Pelley for the crime of: being too cool in a meeting,” the comic quipped, referencing the 37-year veteran’s unceremonious dismissal following his tense verbal confrontation with editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and newly minted 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton.
During the meeting, which took place last Monday when Bilton was introducing himself to network staffers, the 51-time Emmy-winning broadcast journalist grilled the EP and The Free Press founder about their qualifications, adding that the latter is “murdering” the stalwart newsmagazine.
Earlier this weekend, Pelley sat down with The New York Times to tell his side of the story, opening up in an inaugural interview following his dismissal. He told the publication that being fired was “the furthest thing from my mind” during the Tuesday emergency meeting he had with leadership. “So I’m thinking that the meeting’s going to carry on. We’re going to have a long conversation. Very quickly after the meeting began, [CBS News president] Tom Cibrowski said, this conversation is over. I was stunned,” he recalled.
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On Sunday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr took to social media to slam Pelley as “completely out of touch,” maintaining that “You could not get away with that behavior at any run of the mill job. It is revealing to see how blind some are to that.”