Jimmy Kimmel laid into the “Trump suck-ups” at CBS News after Scott Pelley was terminated from “60 Minutes.”
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host touched on Pelley’s ousting from the storied news program during Wednesday’s monologue, in which he celebrated the longtime journalist for standing for “truth and integrity.”
“Last night, the Trump suck-ups at CBS fired a great and deeply respected journalist, Scott Pelley, from his job at ’60 Minutes,’ because he stood up for truth and integrity at a show that’s been the gold-standard for broadcast journalism for 57 years,” Kimmel said. “Pelley had enough after the clowns, who now run that show in the CBS News division, fired reporter Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega along with the executive producer Tanya Simon and replaced Tanya Simon with a guy who has no experience in TV news.”
Kimmel continued: “And that was it for Scott Pelley. He said, ‘The collapse of values at the top has become untenable.’ And he let him have it in a staff meeting, right to the new guy’s face. So, last night they fired him.”
The comedian then joked that “60 Minutes” would be “replaced by new episodes of ‘Reporters Unleashed,’” a clear reference to CBS’ decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and replace the program with Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed.”
As Kimmel went on, he called out President Donald Trump for applauding Pelley’s firing, in which he said the journalist “part of a gang of crooked stupid people.”
He added: “That should make for an interesting situation at the White House correspondents dinner which is apparently back on.”
Watch Kimmel’s full monologue above.
As we previously reported, Pelley was terminated from “60 Minutes” after clashing with new executive producer Nick Bilton on Monday, where he accused editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the program. Pelley and Weiss have since exchanged notably different takes on how the firing went down.
While the CBS News editor-in-chief defended the decision, saying that Pelley broke a foundation of “trust and mutual respect” when he railed against her and Bilton during the staff-wide meeting, she stated that she tried to “engage with [Pelley] and to find a way back.” Pelley criticized Weiss’ summary of events, stating, “No CBS executive, at any time, suggested ‘a way back.’ To say so now is disingenuous. And they know it.”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
