Jimmy Fallon addressed the firing of longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley on “The Tonight Show” Wednesday night, joking that CBS has already chosen “Comics Unleashed” host Byron Allen to fill his spot.
The NBC comedian noted that Pelley was fired by CBS after the veteran correspondent clashed with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and new “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton earlier this week. “The story gets more bizarre, because today CBS announced they were replacing Scott Pelley with Byron Allen,” Fallon joked, calling the move, “Odd.”
Allen already serves as CBS’s quasi-replacement for Stephen Colbert. After “The Late Show” aired its final episode in late May, Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” was moved into the time slot previously occupied by the late night series.
“CBS is getting more and more conservative to appease President Trump,” Fallon observed Wednesday. “Don’t be totally shocked when they replace ’60 Minutes’ with the ‘Kid Rock, My Pillow Guy News Hour.’”
Fallon shifted his attention fully to President Trump later in his monologue, noting that the commander-in-chief had a customarily blunt response to Pelley’s “60 Minutes” ousting.
“In response to Pelley’s firing, Trump called him a ‘stiff,’” Fallon relayed. “Yeah, he’s not like all those other, free-wheeling rock star ’60 Minutes’ correspondents we’re used to.”
The “Tonight Show” host additionally criticized Trump for saying that, while Iran has agreed to not build nuclear weapons, they can still change their minds.
“Trump’s new approach to negotiations seems to be, ‘I’m the chill mom.’ He’s like, ‘If they’re going to build nukes, I’d rather they do it here, you know? I’d rather I could see them,’” he continued. “Trump also said, ‘I think the [Iran] war will resolve itself fairly quickly,’ and I believe him because it’s the same thing he said 94 days ago.”
He then torched Trump for brushing off his unsuccessful peace talks with Iran as “boring.” “He’s losing interest in the war that he started,” Fallon wryly observed.
