Scott Pelley says Bari Weiss is “murdering” ’60 Minutes’ and he’s not wrong

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this


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I’m sure you’re sick of all the CBS News stories, but there is DRAMA over there, babies. So apparently, there was a staff meeting at 60 Minutes to introduce the staff to their new producer, Nick Bilton. When Bilton tried to claim that Bari Weiss “loves 60 Minutes,” correspondent Scott Pelley couldn’t take it anymore:

At that, Mr. Pelley interrupted.

“She is murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” the correspondent said. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

Mr. Pelley added: “She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”

…

Mr. Bilton said that he wanted to help “60 Minutes” avoid the fate of old-media stalwarts that had failed to adapt, citing Time magazine.

“I care so deeply about this institution,” Mr. Bilton said, to which Mr. Pelley interrupted: “Oh, please.”

At one point, Charles Forelle, a top deputy to Ms. Weiss, urged Mr. Pelley not to act “rude” toward Mr. Bilton.

“I’m not being rude,” Mr. Pelley responded. “You know what was rude? Black Thursday was rude.”

(“Black Thursday” took place last week when Bari Weiss fired Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Guy Campanile, and Matthew Polevoy, and two correspondents, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.)

On Monday, Mr. Bilton moved to conclude the meeting after roughly 15 minutes. He encouraged the assembled staff members to partake in the food that had been laid out.

“I just want to thank everyone for graciously being so welcoming,” Mr. Bilton said. “I look forward to talking to you in a one-on-one setting as these meetings are scheduled. And enjoy the bagels.”

The “60 Minutes” staff applauded Mr. Pelley after Mr. Bilton departed.

GOTDAMN, SCOTT PELLEY, YOU GO, GIRL. I am guessing Pelley is packing up his office as I type this, but good for him for speaking truth to power. Someone needs to.

Former 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens had some thoughts on what is happening to his former show and CBS News in general, stating the obvious: “CBS News and ’60 Minutes’ are institutions, not places where partisans and ideologues should be employed.”  And yet …

And former correspondent Steve Kroft knows exactly who to blame:

“Since I retired, I often wondered what would happen to 60 Minutes. But I never expected it would be executed by the president of the United States.”

“There is no smoking gun. But [Trump’s] fingerprints and DNA are all over this,” he added. “He’s been making threats against 60 Minutes and how he wanted it gone. And he finally got his wish.”

Here’s a longer, more detailed piece about what’s going on at CBS News, if you are interested.

As for Jimmy Kimmel, though he just won a Peabody Award for making jokes about President Failure, he’s not confident about his own future. His contract was renewed last year for only one more year, not the typical three years.

“Everything is so tumultuous,” Kimmel said of the shorter renewal. “That seemed to make sense. It’s definitely not how it’s gone in the past.”

“There are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were, if you look at the number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings,” he said, calling it “silly” to argue the format has become less relevant.

His diagnosis: “We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”

Former SNL cast members, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer, are both nominated for Tonys, and Maya Rudolph is leading Oh Mary! at the moment (I just saw her in this last month and she was phenomenal), it’s both unsurprising that SNL cast members would do great on Broadway — they have spent their careers performing live, singing, and dancing —  but also surprising it’s taken this long for so many SNLers to be on Broadway at the same time.

Someone, please adopt Sangria.

So, Jenny Mollen and Jason Biggs’ divorce seems to be going well.

Love is dead.

Love is dead and needs to go back to high school.

Get well soon, Peabo Bryson.

In Development

Casting News

  • Katey Sagal has joined the untitled Apple comedy series starring Elizabeth Banks.
  • Zoë Kravitz will star in the untitled film from Megan Park at Apple.
  • Dean Geyer has joined the cast of General Hospital on ABC.

Mark Your Calendars

  • Outlander: Blood of My Blood returns on Starz on September 2.
  • I Will Find You will premiere on Netflix on June 18.
  • Squatters: Get the F*** Out of My House will premiere on Hulu on June 4.
  • Raakh will premiere on Prime Video on June 12.

R.I.P.

Rick Adelman, NBA coach and former player

Raymond Berry, Pro Football Hall of Famer

Rick Treadway, Former IndyCar driver

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