CBS News has seen a huge shakeup in its staff since Bari Weiss took over as editor-in-chief in October, but few people have been as outspoken as former 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley about the multiple firings. Pelley himself was terminated after saying the new leadership was “murdering” 60 Minutes, and as Bill Maher discussed CBS’ most recent fireworks, I definitely wasn’t expecting him to compare the situation to Saturday Night Live cast changes.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, went on Overtime with Bill Maher to discuss what’s happening at CBS’ longtime TV news magazine, accusing Trump of trying to create a “censorship state.” Bill Maher, however, pushed back at the idea that 60 Minutes and CBS as a whole were MAGA just because they were replacing staff. Companies change hands all the time, the host asserted, and it’s standard for new bosses to bring in their own people. Maher said that didn’t necessarily make it a political issue, adding:
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!
It’s true that SNL does have a pretty high turnover rate — the Season 51 cast looked a lot different even before Bowen Yang left mid-season. Each year cast members have to wait to see if they’ll be brought back, and in addition to the choices made by Lorne Michaels, few cast members choose to stay on Saturday Night Live as long as Kenan Thompson and other veterans due to the sketch comedy’s famously grueling schedule.
However, Bill Maher’s example isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. Unlike Saturday Night Live, people can spend their entire careers at CBS News, which has many longtime employees like 60 Minutes' Lesley Stahl, who’s been there for 55 years. Scott Pelley worked for the news organization for 37 years before he was fired, winning 51 Emmy Awards in that time.
The Real Time host went on to say that he agreed Trump is a “danger to freedom of speech,” but when it came to 60 Minutes, he didn’t see a “smoking gun.” Bill Maher also admitted that he never liked Scott Pelley, who continued to slam CBS even after his exit.
Scott Pelley spoke with the New York Times this week, calling for Bari Weiss to be removed from her position at CBS. He said, “We need adult supervision, and at the moment we don’t have it.” Pelley also alleged “a subtle political bias” that he said he hadn’t seen on the news magazine’s show before.
Former 60 Minutes EP Bill Owens, who resigned in April, and former host Steve Kroft have defended Scott Pelley and spoken out about the direction CBS News is headed. Bari Weiss’ leadership has been in question since being put in that position with the merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global.
In December she made headlines for her last-minute decision to pull a story about the Trump administration’s alleged handling of migrants being sent to an El Salvador prison, which drew questions about political influence on the news.
Stay tuned, because the discourse regarding CBS News doesn't seem to be drying up anytime soon.
