FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is seemingly weighing in on the controversy surrounding the firing of 60 Minutes veteran Scott Pelley.
“One of the reasons why trust in media is so low is because many legacy journalists are completely out of touch,” Carr, who has served as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission since 2025, wrote via X on Sunday, June 7. The post was shared one day after Pelley, 68, conducted his first sit-down interview since he was let go from the CBS news program.
“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,” Carr, 47, concluded.
On Saturday, June 6, The New York Times published video footage and an article stemming from Pelley’s interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro. The interview deep-dived into Pelley’s recent termination from 60 Minutes at the hands of its new executive producer, Nick Bilton, after Pelley was critical of Bilton, 49, and CBS News’ editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, who joined the network in October.
The Times’ interview saw Pelley, who had worked across the network in various roles for the past 37 years, discuss his perspective on the state of operations at the network and its parent company, Paramount.
“My hope is that the leadership at Paramount will say to themselves, ‘OK, this isn’t working. We have respected journalists saying that there is a thumb on the scale of one political party over another,” Pelley told Garcia-Navarro, 56. “There’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen.”
Us Weekly confirmed on Tuesday, June 2, that Pelley’s contract with the network had been terminated. The shock exit came on the back of a verbal confrontation that involved additional staff and Bilton. In a memo to Pelley following the confrontation, Bilton labeled Pelley’s words as an “ambush.”
In response to his firing, Pelley released a statement that reflected on his time with the network.
“I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion — a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives,” the statement read. “I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again — a day when sanity, competence and courage return.”
In the days that followed, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that “morale is terrible” at CBS following the heated behind-the-scenes clash and Pelley’s dismissal.
“No one knows what to believe or who is working against them. It has never been like this before,” the insider told Us. “The staff in the newsroom all feel like they cannot trust anyone. How can you work like that?”
