Trump FCC Chief Brendan Carr Slams ‘Out of Touch’ Scott Pelley for Claiming He Didn’t Expect ’60 Minutes’ Firing

(Andres Kudacki/AP photo)

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called ex-CBS News anchor Scott Pelley “out of touch” on Sunday for claiming in an interview that his firing from 60 Minutes came as a surprise.

Pelley’s ouster from the newsmagazine made headlines last week after the former anchor of CBS Evening News called out the show’s new executive producer Nick Bilton and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss during an explosive meeting on Monday. Pelley criticized Bilton directly, telling him he “would never be welcomed” at the show, while pressing the EP on a slew of firings at 60 Minutes.

Bilton announced Pelley’s termination in a letter addressed to the longtime 60 Minutes correspondent on Tuesday evening, calling out his “misconduct” and “antipathy to the future of the show” before informing him of his firing. Pelley hit back in an interview with The New York Times, accusing Weiss of “putting a thumb on the scale” for President Donald Trump’s administration and calling for her ouster.

He also claimed that he did not expect his final meeting with CBS leadership to conclude with his firing, telling Lulu Garcia-Navarro it “hadn’t occurred to me” after she asked if he was anticipating the ouster.

“Oh gosh, furthest thing from my mind. It hadn’t occurred to me. The president of CBS News, Tom Cibrowski, sent me a note and said, ‘can you come by and talk to us?’ And I said, ‘absolutely.’ I scheduled about an hour on my calendar for the meeting. I didn’t know who was going to be there,” later adding, “I just didn’t connect the dots. I mean, was this meeting [with Bilton] contentious? Yes, but 60 Minutes is known for two things: a ticking stopwatch and hard questions.”

Pelley then described a fiery exchange between legendary broadcaster Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt over a piece, where the former threw a script that hit a producer, noting that Bilton’s meeting was over a much more intense subject than simply a story. Carr, however, was unconvinced by Pelley’s explanation of his shock.

“One of the reasons why trust in media is so low is because many legacy journalists are completely out of touch,” he wrote on X. “You could not get away with that behavior at any run of the mill job. It is revealing to see how blind some are to that.”

President Trump, who appointed Carr and has championed his campaign to go after critical news organizations, also called out Pelley last week.

“Look, Scott Pelley’s a stiff,” Trump said. “And he’s afraid. And he’s part of this gang of stupid, crooked people that don’t care about our country.”

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