Former “60 Minutes” host Scott Pelley released a statement Wednesday claiming that CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss lied about the circumstances behind his firing.
Pelley’s second statement following his Tuesday firing appears to contradict Weiss’ account of their meeting. The statement further alleges that CBS President and Executive Editor Tom Cibrowski was set on to firing Pelley.
“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,” Pelley’s statement reads. “Weiss and Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. ‘Firing’ was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds.”
“I am pained that the staff of CBS News was misled in the Wednesday morning conference call,” Pelley’s second statement reads. “These executives cannot gain the trust of their staff with lies. This is antithetical to everything we stand for and reveals contempt for what journalists do.”
In his first statement following his firing, the journalist claimed that, “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”
“I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast,” Pelley continued in his original Tuesday night statement. “Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done.”
Pelley previously clashed with new 60 Minutes Executive Producer Nick Bilton on Monday, criticizing Weiss’ changes to CBS. The confrontation was recorded and reported by multiple media outlets.
“You hijacked my meeting to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” Bilton’s letter to Pelley states. “Yesterday’s performative display of hostility enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”
“The collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable,” Pelley alleged in his first statement. “The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”
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