PAY ATTENTION TO ME: CBS’s Scott Pelley Releases Another Cartoonish Statement

Fired longtime CBS correspondent and host Scott Pelley — who believes he’s on par with American war heroes — sought to keep his aircraft-carrier-sized ego and farcical martyrdom alive Wednesday with a second statement about his firing over his ambush Monday of new 60 Minutes boss, Nick Bilton. This time, he said news reports about Wednesday morning’s editorial meeting in which editor-in-chief Bari Weiss addressed Pelley’s ouster was filled with “lies” and “antithetical to everything we stand for[.]”

Pelley even said Weiss’s description of events “reveal[ed] contempt for what journalists do.”

The media reporting class each had their own version of how this daily call went down. The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr posted some of it on X:

Here was how the New York Post’s Alexandra Steigrad and Ariel Ziber summarized it (click “expand”):

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss addressed the firing of Scott Pelley during a staff meeting Wednesday morning, telling employees that the network had no choice but to part ways with the veteran correspondent following his public confrontation with management.

“The foundation [of trust and mutual respect] was broken,” Weiss said during the network’s daily 9 a.m. editorial call, according to a recording obtained by The Post.

“Despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways,” Weiss told staff.

“We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose.”

As for Pelley, he first declared without a scintilla of irony that he was “saddened to see the transcript of the CBS News morning editorial meeting.”

For someone who had to have known he was playing with fire and a reputation of being an attention-seeking missile and likely was behind some of the leaks about Monday’s team-wide scolding he delivered to Bilton, that’s rich.

Pelley asserted Weiss’s claims CBS News executives tried to work with Pelley on “find[ing] a way back” to understanding was “not true.”

“In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to ‘find a way back,’ as Weiss said in the editorial meeting. At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution,” he claimed.

He droned on: “Weiss and [CBS News President] Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. ‘Firing’ was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds. No CBS executive, at any time, suggested ‘a way back.’ To say so now is disingenuous. And they know it.”

Now, Pelley was being purposefully obtuse. 

Bilton explained late Tuesday in both his termination letter to Pelley and a message to staff, the new team at CBS News and 60 Minutes made repeated overtures to Pelley, knowing how acrimonious things were likely to become with one of the network’s longest-tenured personalities.

But, as numerous stories revealed this week, the olive branches were all ignored by Pelley. Thus, it’s egregious to demand reconciliation after he scorched them in public and tried to burn the proverbial house down.

Because many liberal journalists believe they are the heroes of not only their own stories, but those of every living thing on planet Earth, Pelley shared his supposed recollection of the meeting about his firing (“click “expand”):

In fact, Weiss, Cibrowski and Nick Bilton refused to answer my questions. I asked Weiss a number of questions about why she fired the entire senior staff of 60 Minutes a few days before and without cause.

“I’m not answering that question,” she said.

I asked why she did not come to 60 Minutes’ offices to explain her actions.

“I’m not answering that question.”

Why did she fire 60 Minutes Executive Producer Tanya Simon?

“I’m not answering that question.”

Why fire correspondent Cecilia Vega?

“I’m not answering that question.”

Why fire correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi?

“I’m not answering that question.”

Throughout the meeting, the CBS executives were abrupt, dismissive and uninterested in dialogue. Suddenly, and to my surprise, Cibrowski declared, “This conversation is over!”

“Why?” I asked. “I’m happy to answer your questions.”

“This conversation is over!” Cibrowski repeated, raising his voice and standing to show me the door.

“I’m happy to keep talking,” I added.

No constructive dialogue was allowed by the CBS executives at any point. I was stonewalled for about 10 minutes and then, for no apparent reason, “This conversation is over.”

Again, offensively obtuse and selfish. Pelley believes he’s in charge of CBS News, not the people who sign his paychecks.

Before his claims about Cibrowski, Bilton, Weiss being fueled by their own “lies” and exhibiting “contempt” for journalism, Pelley acknowledged his now-former colleagues, who seem to have the emotional capacity of liberal college students thinking they can shut down a Ben Shapiro speech: “I am pained that the staff of CBS News was misled in the Wednesday morning conference call.”