{"id":523928,"date":"2026-06-08T02:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/523928\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T02:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:33:18","slug":"bill-maher-issues-blunt-response-to-scott-pelleys-60-minutes-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/523928\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Maher Issues Blunt Response to Scott Pelley\u2019s \u201960 Minutes\u2019 Firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Maher<\/a> issued a blunt response to Scott Pelley<\/a>\u2018s 60 Minutes<\/a> firing on Real Time With Bill Maher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On June 5, the stand-up comedian discussed the controversial move with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice. Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes<\/a> on June 2, after 22 years, following critical remarks he made against the show\u2019s new executive producer, Nick Bilton<\/a>, and CBS News editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does the panel think of the recent shakeup at 60 Minutes? I\u2019m for it,\u201d Maher said during the \u201cOvertime\u201d segment<\/a> of the CBS late-night show.<\/p>\n

To that, Murphy countered, \u201cListen, you\u2019re watching a censorship state be created. Trump is using the powers that he has available as president of the United States to install only friendly ownership at the big media companies. He\u2019s using regulatory powers to punish people who oppose him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator added, \u201cI guess it\u2019s fascinating to me that, like, all our big institutions have kind of let us down, right? From academia to the corporate world to big media, they\u2019ve all folded in with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, as Murphy pointed out five months ahead of the 2026 midterms, \u201cWe might pull off a free and fair election. It\u2019s kind of astounding that the people of this country, even as the corruption of our democracy happens in media, in the corporate world, even around Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s inner circle, the people have just decided they\u2019re hanging on to this democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher was not on board, however. He responded, \u201cThat\u2019s a big charge that you just made \u2014 that 60 Minutes itself and CBS itself is now completely MAGA. I don\u2019t see it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Murphy acknowledged that 60 Minutes \u201cisn\u2019t completely MAGA,\u201d he insisted that President Trump is \u201cclearly intent on installing people who will tell his story and will keep his critics off the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an avid viewer of the news magazine, Maher said he hasn\u2019t noticed much of a change, admitting, \u201cIf I didn\u2019t hear all the buzz in the media, if I didn\u2019t read about it all the time, would I have ever noticed it was any different? I don\u2019t think I would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy then pointed out,\u00a0\u201cPart of it is you don\u2019t know what they choose not to air, part of what the allegation is that they are killing stories that would be embarrassing for the president,\u201d Murphy hit back. \u201cSo it\u2019s hard to know what you\u2019re missing in a censorship environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that, Maher said he has seen 60 Minutes episodes that are \u201cnot very favorable to the president.\u201d He then declared, \u201cI just don\u2019t think being a 60 Minutes correspondent is that hard. I don\u2019t feel like Scott Pelley was a national treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher continued, \u201cCompanies change hands all the time. I never liked him, sorry, I just never did. Just because something changes doesn\u2019t mean\u2026 I feel like we see everything through such a partisan lens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Maher conceded, of Trump, \u201cYes, I agree. He\u2019s a danger to media. He\u2019s a danger to freedom of speech. But just 60 Minutes, I don\u2019t know. And I\u2019m not gonna make that decision until I see a smoking gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pelley just sent a message to supporters<\/a> after his 60 Minutes firing.<\/p>\n

Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10\/9c, HBO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the latest entertainment news on TV Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Maher issued a blunt response to Scott Pelley\u2018s 60 Minutes firing on Real Time With Bill Maher.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[27052,16139,38392,18,117,19,17,19245,223514,187,128],"class_list":["post-523928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-60-minutes","tag-bill-maher","tag-chris-murphy","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-real-time-with-bill-maher","tag-scott-pelley","tag-trump","tag-tv"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116712151880998891","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}