Pelley’s tearful tantrum: Letters to the Editor — June 12, 2026

The Issue: Former “60 Minutes” host Scott Pelley’s tear-filled New York Times interview.

I am bemused at Scott Pelley’s tearful reaction to his firing as a correspondent on “60 Minutes” (“Pelley cries over firings,” June 8).

Does he believe that, unlike every other employee in America, he’s immune to being fired from his position?

Lesley Stahl should also take note and stop referring to herself as a survivor or she might be joining Pelley on the unemployment line.

Anthony Bruno

Smithtown

I was surprised to learn of how Scott Pelley unloaded on Nick Bilton, the new executive producer of “60 Minutes,” and on CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, at a meeting with co-workers.

I can understand why Weiss feels that he went too far, sacrificing his position.

But Pelley’s tirade should demonstrate the danger the network is in by appointing unqualified individuals to prominent positions in order to bend the operation to please the president.

When journalistic independence is diminished, truth is the casualty.

Pelley fired the shot heard around the world, warning the public of the consequences.

Oren Spiegler

Peters Township, Pa.

The dust-up about Pelley’s firing reminded me: If I had been guilty of insubordination during my time as an enlisted infantry grunt, I would’ve been thrown into the stockade.

Perhaps when Pelley was doing time in “combat,” he was not held to the same rigorous standards as a Private First Class.

Although I’ve worked as a program director for a network TV affiliate, I would never say, “that means I’m a journalist” — because it would be patently untrue.

I trust someone will let Pelley know that the same applies for serving in combat.

John Park

Hobe Sound, Fla.

Thanks CBS for removing that condescending arrogant Scott Pelley.

You’re on the right path.

Butch Dener

New Paltz

Pelley forgot that he’s an employee, not the boss; he doesn’t sign his own check.

He was, and is, a self-righteous woke Democrat who used his position as a supposed newscaster to ram his beliefs down viewers’ throats.

One by one, the wokesters are biting the dust and nobody will miss them.

Mike Caterino

Oxford, Conn.

The Issue: The fatal shooting of Jonathan Pettigrew, a father of seven, by a 15-year-old on a Bronx bus.

Thanks for your excellent editorial (“Raise the Age Kills a Bronx Dad,” Editorial, June 10).

While former Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have signed the insane Raise the Age law, it was validated and supported by whiny former state Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.

The ersatz former chief judge and his woke criminal-justice and incarceration-reform commission must be at the top of the list of people to hold accountable for the destruction of New York City.

Charles Compton

The Bronx

Who am I to question Mayor Mamdani and the wisdom of socialism?

I just feel that fellow Bronxite and father of seven, Jonathan Pettigrew, would have rather paid for his MTA bus ride with a few hard earned dollars, than with his life.

An obscene price to pay for a hardworking, native New Yorker.

Joe Schulok

The Bronx

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie bears part of the blame for the fatal shooting of a 41-year-old father of seven by a 15-year-old thug on a Bronx bus.

Heastie was the chief advocate for the Raise the Age Law, which allows young felons to literally get away with murder.

One argument in favor of the law was that teenagers’ brains are not fully developed.

Perhaps it is Heastie’s brain that’s not fully developed.

Richard Reif

Kew Gardens Hills

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