Bill Maher: Ruckus Over 60 Minutes Unwarranted

Bill Maher isn't mourning the staff shakeup at 60 Minutes. On the latest episode of HBO's Real Time, Maher said he backs CBS's decision to fire longtime correspondent Scott Pelley, the most recent in a series of staff cuts. "I'm for it," he said, adding that he "never liked" Pelley or viewed him as a "national treasure." Maher framed the move as a routine change under new leadership and pushed back on the idea that former President Trump engineered it. "Companies change hands, people bring in their own people," he said, reports the Hill. "I feel like we see everything through such a partisan lens."

One of his guests, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, argued that Trump is working to reshape media ownership, including at CBS parent Paramount Skydance. "You're watching a censorship state be created," he said. "Trump is using the powers that he has available as president of the United States to install only friendly ownership at the big media companies." When Maher challenged that, Murphy acknowledged that CBS has not become "completely MAGA" but is moving toward keeping Trump's critics off the air. Maher was unswayed. Yes, Trump is a "danger to media," he said, per TV Insider. "He's a danger to free speech. But just 60 Minutes, I don't know. And I'm not gonna make that decision until I see a smoking gun."