CBS 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley blasted for biting the $5million hand that feeds him in bold on-air outburst

Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley has been slammed for his on-air rebuke of his CBS bosses.

Pelley, who makes an estimated $5 million per year, used the broadcast’s final segment on Sunday night to address the sudden resignation of the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens. 

However, he quickly pivoted to condemning CBS parent company Paramount Global for taking a more active role in the show’s journalism claiming their interest is a desperate bid to secure political favor from the Trump administration.

‘Bill resigned Tuesday. It was hard on him and hard on us, but he did it for us – and you,’ Pelley told viewers. ‘Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways.’

‘No one here is happy about it’ Pelley revealed about the extra supervision that corporate leaders are imposing. He also noted noting how in quitting, Owens proved he was ‘the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.’

Pelley was blasted online by critics who claimed his outburst showed he was ungrateful to the company that he’s been with for decades and pays his massive salary.

‘When you work for wages, you ride for the brand. Don’t like what you’re doing, quit. Scott Pelley bit the hand that feeds him and should be frog marched from the studio,’ one person said.

‘This show has been nothing but fraudulent the past eight plus years. This editorial by Scott Pelley jumps the shark,’ said another.

Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley (pictured) faced fierce backlash for his shocking on-air rebuke of his CBS bosses

Pelley used the broadcast’s final segment to address the sudden resignation of the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens (pictured), and slammed the network bosses

‘Find someone who loves you the way Scott Pelley loves himself,’ a third person said.

‘If Pelley believed a word of this then he should resign. He won’t though because it’s all nonsense. He knows it and we know it,’ added a fourth.

Others called out Pelley for failing to address the other recent scandals 60 Minutes and CBS have been involved in.

‘Scott Pelley and the entire 60 Minutes team… total frauds. After the Harris interview editing debacle, for that clown to sit there so sanctimoniously and claim a transgression was visited upon the righteous 60 Minutes staff,’ said on person.

‘Such a naïve final minute that showed just how out of touch they are with reality. No mention of the doctored Kamala interview, the loss to Trump on the court case, the coverup of Biden’s mental acuity, or any other way their ”reporting” was biased. Fire all of them and start over,’ another said.

The live commentary was a rare glimpse into the internal battles at 60 Minutes, an institution that has built its reputation on fearless reporting for nearly six decades and Pelley’s on-air statement was an unusual peek behind the scenes at the inner turmoil viewers seldom get to see.

Pelley made clear that although no stories had been blocked outright, Owens believed the creeping corporate oversight had crossed a red line and was undermining the very foundation of journalistic integrity.

‘None of our stories has been blocked,’ Pelley declared, ‘but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it.

‘Stories we’ve pursued for 57 years were often controversial, lately the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair—he was tough that way.’ 

The corporate storm swirling around CBS comes as Paramount Global races to finalize a high-stakes merger with Skydance Media, a deal that reportedly hinges on receiving the green light from federal regulators under the Trump administration. 

At the same time, the network remains embroiled in an eye-popping $20 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Trump himself, who claims the show manipulated an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last fall to paint her in a more favorable light.

Trump has claimed the network cut down Harris’ ‘word salad’ answer to a question about the Israel-Hamas conflict. By doing so, he claims the network was helping the Democratic nominee secure the White House. 

Employees at the network, though, have said they were simply trying to fit Harris’ answer into their one-hour broadcast.

Owens, 58, who had been with CBS News for decades and served as only the third executive producer in 60 Minutes’ 57-year history since 2019, walked away from the show last week. 

In his resignation, Owens cited corporate interference as the breaking point, saying it had ‘become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it – to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.’

Owens – a respected figure who recently helped overhaul CBS’s Evening News – went on to promise that ’60 Minutes will continue to cover the new administration,’ and ‘future’ ones as well. 

Critics slammed Pelley, who makes an estimated $5 million per year, for being ungrateful to the company that he has worked at for decades

Pelley claimed the company has taken a more active role in the show’s journalism to secure political favor from the Trump administration

‘The show is too important to the country,’ Owens ultimately declared, weeks after sources told DailyMail.com how the bigwig was ‘feeling the pressure’ brought by the Trump lawsuit.

He reportedly added during a ’60 Minutes’ staff meeting last Tuesday: ‘It’s clear the company is done with me.

‘It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,’ Owens said. 

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