‘Somebody Had to Stand Up!’ Scott Pelley Chokes Up Describing the Fiery Meeting That Led to His Ouster from ’60 Minutes’

Recently fired 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley got choked up while arguing he had to “stand up” to his CBS bosses on behalf of his less tenured coworkers during an interview with The New York Times on Sunday.

Pelley got emotional while talking about the instantly infamous rant — at least in media circles — that he went on against CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton last week. He accused Weiss of “murdering” the news program with her recent staff shakeup. That diatribe spurred CBS to fire him shortly after.

NYT The Interview host Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Pelley why he felt “compelled to speak up” at the meeting.

“It was fate,” Pelley said. “First of all, our entire senior staff had been wiped out. They’re not there.”

He continued:

I looked around at my friends and colleagues in the room and realized I was the senior person — only I could do it. None of them could be asked to take that risk.

So when I saw Nick Bilton’s email, and then saw him reading to my broken-hearted people off his phone, I felt somebody had to stand up for the broadcast. Not just the broadcast, but the people. “There are people in that room who go to war zones when they are pregnant!

Pelley then got choked up and paused for a moment to gather himself.

“Newsrooms are sort of like the military or the police or the beautiful people at the FDNY down the street. It is a life-threatening job in many instances,” he continued. “And very strong bonds — very emotional bonds — are developed in that kind of setting.”

He went on, saying the new leaders at CBS News were clueless about those bonds.

Later in the interview, Pelley said it “didn’t occur” to him that he could possibly be fired for ranting at his bosses in front of his coworkers.

“But Scott, in a meeting, you accused Bari Weiss, the head of the network, of wanting to murder the show — of coming into 60 Minutes with the agenda to dismantle the institution,” Garcia-Navarro followed up.  “And you did not think that that was going to have repercussions that could lead to your firing?”

Pelley said in the old days you could have those kind of “conversations” at CBS, but the new leadership “will not be questioned.”

His NYT interview comes a day after Pelley thanked his fans for all the support since he’s been axed.

“You are the wind in my sails,” Pelley posted on Instagram, along with a picture of him captaining a sailboat. 

Watch above.

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