Rachel Maddow Stands by Scott Pelley After CBS Exit, Extends MS Now Invitation

Rachel Maddow publicly voiced her support for Scott Pelley following the shocking news of his firing from CBS on Tuesday, June 2.

That same night, Maddow spoke about it during her latest TV appearance, saying that she hopes Pelley will land “right here,” referencing MSNBC.

“There’s nobody who is more acutely attuned to the value of a free press than those who are trying to take it away,” Maddow said of Pelley. “There’s nothing else going on at CBS News other than what we can see is happening at CBS News. And I don’t know where Scott Pelley will land. Frankly, I hope he lands right here.”

And she wants him back on screen as soon as possible.

 “I hope he’s on TV tomorrow,” Maddow stated. “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. But it is a fully joined fight at this point. And there’s no, I just don’t think there’s any pretense that anything else was happening here.”

The 60 Minutes veteran was fired from CBS, with executive producer, Nick Bilton saying that Pelley showed  “performative display[s] of hostility” and had “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”

Following Bilton’s termination letter that was made public, Pelley released a statement of his own, defending his actions and calling out CBS’s leadership.

“But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well,” he wrote. “I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.”