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Jimmy Kimmel tore into CBS News executives Wednesday night after the network fired longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley following a heated staff meeting with the show's new executive producer, Nick Bilton.
During his monologue on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," the ABC late-night host accused CBS of punishing Pelley for defending the program's standards.
"Last night, the Trump suck-ups at CBS fired a great and deeply respected journalist, Scott Pelley, from his job at ‘60 Minutes,’ because he stood up for truth and integrity at a show that’s been the gold standard for broadcast journalism for 57 years," Kimmel said.
He said Pelley’s frustration followed recent changes at "60 Minutes," including the dismissals of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega and executive producer Tanya Simon.
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Bilton replaced Simon after CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss installed him in the role.
"Pelley had had enough after the clowns, who now run that show in the CBS News division, fired reporter Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, along with the executive producer Tanya Simon, and replaced Tanya Simon with a guy who has no experience in TV news," Kimmel said.
Kimmel pointed to Pelley's own criticism of CBS leadership, saying the veteran correspondent confronted Bilton during the meeting.
"And that was it for Scott Pelley," Kimmel said. "He said the collapse of values at the top has become untenable, and he let him have it in a staff meeting right to the new guy’s face."
"So last night, they fired him," Kimmel said.
The late-night host also joked that the network's signature newsmagazine could be remade in the mold of CBS' new late-night lineup, after "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" was replaced in May by Byron Allen's "Comics Unleashed."
"‘60 Minutes’ will be replaced by new episodes of ‘Reporters Unleashed,’" Kimmel said.
Kimmel turned to President Donald Trump’s reaction to Pelley’s firing. Trump had criticized Pelley in a "Pod Force One" interview with Miranda Devine released Wednesday, calling him "terrible" and part of a "gang of stupid, crooked people."
"The president, of course, applauded this cowardly decision," Kimmel said. "He said Scott Pelley is part of a gang of crooked, stupid people ... different from the gang of crooked stupid people he’s a part of."
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Kimmel also tied Trump's comments to the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which is set for July 24 after the April event was disrupted by a shooting.
"That should make for an interesting situation at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which is apparently back on," Kimmel said.
Bilton accused Pelley of an "ambush" in a termination notice obtained by The Associated Press, writing that Pelley had "hijacked" his first staff meeting with "remarkable incivility and contempt." CBS News has not commented on the firing, according to the AP.
Pelley, in a statement after his firing, said "60 Minutes" had "lost its DNA" under new management and accused CBS leaders of asking him to "inject falsehoods and bias" into his work.
Weiss told staff Wednesday that trust had been broken and that CBS had tried to "find a way back," according to The Washington Post.
Pelley disputed that account, saying, "No CBS executive, at any time, suggested ‘a way back.’"
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump administration for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
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