Maddow hopes Scott Pelley lands at MS NOW

Rachel Maddow said she hopes Scott Pelley “will land” at MS NOW after his firing from CBS’s “60 Minutes,” while criticizing CBS News leadership changes she described as an “oligarchic takeover.” Pelley, 68, left the program after a heated staff confrontation i

Scott Pelley’s departure from CBS’s “60 Minutes” didn’t just end a long-running TV chapter—it sparked a fresh fight over who gets to shape the news.

Rachel Maddow, 53, used her “MS NOW” broadcast to wish the ousted journalist would land with her network after CBS fired him on June 2. Her message landed hard, too: she mocked the recent leadership shifts at CBS News and warned that the changes amount to an effort to control coverage.

“I don’t know where Scott Pelley will land,” Maddow said. “Frankly, I hope he lands right here. I hope he’s on TV tomorrow, and I hope that everybody in journalism and everybody who values a free press figures out ways to outmaneuver the people who are trying to take the free press from us.”

She followed that with a broader charge aimed at CBS News leadership, joking that an executive hire—“as part of the sort of bald-faced, Hungarian-style oligarchic takeover of that news organization”—reflected a takeover dynamic rather than a normal reshuffling.

Maddow’s criticism sharpened when she referenced a reported presidential stance about using government power to shape media. She said. “And when the president baldly says. ‘I am going to use the power of the state in order to get the media that I want. ’ and he lines up oligarchic friends in order to do that for him − again. there’s no pretense.”.

She added that, in her view, there was no hidden agenda at CBS News beyond what viewers could see: “There’s nothing else going on at CBS News, other than what we can see is happening at CBS News.”

Pelley’s exit came after a confrontation with “60 Minutes” executive Nick Bilton, according to a recording obtained by The New York Times and reported on June 1. In that meeting, Pelley allegedly accused CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the news institution.

Weiss took up the role in 2025 and has faced criticism over changes being made at CBS. The pressure has also extended beyond CBS News as Paramount has been accused of political favoritism with the Trump administration.

In a termination note obtained by a U.S. outlet, Bilton told Pelley that he hoped they could find common ground after “misconduct,” saying, “You made it clear that you are not interested in such a path.”

Bilton wrote that it was “a profound disappointment” that Pelley rejected his overture and “chose ambush instead.” He accused Pelley of hijacking Bilton’s first meeting with staff to disparage him “instead of in a civil, private conversation.”

Bilton also said he would not tolerate “performative displays of hostility.” He described Pelley’s “antipathy” toward the show’s future as “loud and clear,” adding, “And I have heard you.”

On June 3, Pelley broke his silence with a statement posted to Instagram. He claimed the program had “lost its DNA” after leadership and correspondents were fired “without cause.”

“For my part,” Pelley continued, he alleged that “new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.” He said he was “told to include assertions that are unverified.”

Put together, the timeline shows a collision between two competing narratives: CBS leadership framed Pelley’s behavior as misconduct and hostility, while Pelley said he was being pressured to insert unverified assertions into coverage tied to political stakes.

Scott Pelley Rachel Maddow MS NOW CBS News 60 Minutes Nick Bilton Bari Weiss Paramount media freedom free press Instagram statement termination note