Bill Maher Trashes Scott Pelley Amid Firing — Won’t Blame Trump For 60 Minutes Shakeup

Comedian and pundit Bill Maher ripped former 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley and refused to blame President Donald Trump for the shakeup at the legendary newsmagazine.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was former Vice President Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States and author of “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience.”

The panel guests were Senator Chris Murphy, Democratic senator from Connecticut and author of the new book “Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America”; and Susan Rice, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, former U.S. National Security Advisor, and former Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

During the overtime segment, Maher said he “never liked” Pelley and said he wouldn’t become concerned about the program unless he saw a “smoking gun” like an Alex Jones or Candace Owens hire:

BILL MAHER: What does the panel think of the recent shakeup at 60 Minutes? I’m for it. Good night. I’ll let you in. What do you think of the shakeup in 60 minutes? Big controversy.

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Yeah, I mean, listen, you’re 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’s using regulatory powers to punish people who oppose him.

I guess it’s 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’ve all folded in with him.

And yet, we’re, like five months away from an election. And we might pull off a free and fair election. It’s 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’s inner circle, the people have just decided they’re hanging on to this democracy.

BILL MAHER: That’s a big charge that you just made, that that that 60 minutes itself and CBS itself is now completely MAGA. I don’t see it that way.

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): No it’s not completely MAGA.

BILL MAHER: Well, it’s kind of what you said

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): But he is clearly intent on installing people who will tell his story and will keep his critics off the air.

BILL MAHER: Let me ask you this question. I watch 60 Minutes every week. I’ve had since I was a kid. If I didn’t hear all the buzz in the media, if I didn’t read about it all the time, would I ever notice that it was any different? I don’t think I would.

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Yeah, but it’s not just 60 minutes and part of it is you don’t know what they choose not to air, part of what the allegation is is that they are killing stories that would be embarrassing for the president. So it’s hard to know what you’re missing in a censorship environment.

BILL MAHER: But I’ve seen ones that are not very favorable to the president. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t know if I would have noticed any different if I hadn’t been reading about it.

Also, I just don’t think being a 60 Minutes correspondent is that hard. I don’t feel like Scott Pelley was a national treasure.

Companies change hands all the time. I never liked him, sorry. I just never did. Companies change hands, people bring in their own people, their new ownership. You know, just because something changes doesn’t mean, I feel like we see everything through such a partisan lens.

Oh my God, 60 Minutes has a new cast! So does Saturday Night Live. You haven’t built as much.

SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): It’s not just 60 minutes, right? I mean, they literally take down his chief late night critic. CBS News at 6.30 does sound and feel different. So this is not just about 60 minutes.

Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!