CBS Anchor Scott Pelley’s Anti-Trump Graduation Speech Goes Viral — MAGA Fans Lash Out
CBS News anchor Scott Pelley’s anti-Trump graduation speech went viral over the weekend as supporters of President Donald Trump lashed out at the 60 Minutes star’s warnings about free speech.
Pelley’s network and program are the subject of a blockbuster lawsuit by Trump that has roiled the company and become a linchpin in a series of showdowns with media companies that critics say amount to an assault on free speech.
That was the backdrop and the thrust of Pelley’s speech when he delivered the commencement address for Wake Forest University’s Class of 2025 in North Carolina last week.
One portion of that speech has gone viral and triggered a backlash after it was clipped and shared by a pro-MAGA account. Here’s a slightly longer passage:
As a reporter, I’ve learned to respect opinions. Reasonable people differ about the life of our country. And America works well when we listen to those that we disagree with, where we listen to those we disagree with and have common ground and compromise.
One thing we can all agree on, one thing at least, America is at her best when everyone is included. To move forward, we debate, not demonize. I like this crowd.
To move forward, we debate, not demonize. We discuss, not destroy.
But in this moment, this moment this morning, our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under a attack. Universities are under attack, freedom of speech is under attacked.
And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes, and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak– in America!
If our government is, in Lincoln’s phrase, of the people, by the people for the people, then why are we afraid to speak?
The Wake Forest class of 1861, they did not choose their time of calling. The class of 1941 did not chose. The class 1968 did not choice. History chose. And now history is calling you, the class of 2025.
The speech took place last Monday, but the clip went viral this weekend as Trump fans attacked Pelley and piled on, much of the criticism echoing the person who posted the clip and wrote “Scott Pelley raged at Trump in angry, unhinged commencement address at Wake Forest…as he speaks openly and freely in America. This self-important, sermonizing propagandist is what passes for a legacy media ‘journalist.'”
Poynter’s Tom Jones wrote in support of Pelley’s message that his warning was “hard to argue” with:
Trump sued ABC. He is suing CBS. He has barred The Associated Press from certain access. He is seeking to cut funding for places such as Voice of America, NPR and PBS. On a nearly daily basis, Trump insults reporters if he doesn’t like their legitimate questions and rails against them on social media.
That’s not an attack on journalism?
Watch Pelley’s full speech above via Wake Forest University.
