Fox News host Howard Kurtz criticized CBS journalist Scott Pelley for delivering a fiery commencement address at Wake Forest University, labeling it as a partisan critique rather than a graduation speech.
On his “MediaBuzz” program Sunday, Kurtz took issue with Pelley’s speech, which he perceived as a severe rhetorical attack on President Donald Trump, presented to an audience of students and their families.
“I just think it’s wildly inappropriate to use a commencement address to say such things,” Kurtz said.
Kurtz argued the speech was not only out of place but emblematic of a broader ideological slant at CBS News.
“Doesn’t that reinforce the notion that the network is incredibly biased against the president?” he asked.
Pelley, a “60 Minutes” correspondent since 1999, did not shy away during his May 19 address to Wake Forest’s graduating class. He cautioned against what he termed as a growing atmosphere of fear and censorship in American public life, linking these conditions to the political climate of the Trump era.
“This morning our sacred rule of law is under attack,” Pelley told the crowd.
“Journalism is under attack, universities are under attack, freedom of speech is under attack and insidious fear is reaching throughout schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts.”
He went on: “The fear to speak — in America? If our government is, in Lincoln’s phrase, ‘of the people, by the people, for the people,’ then why are we afraid to speak? Ignorance works for power. Power can change the definition of the words we used to describe reality. This is an old playbook, my friends. There is nothing new in this.”
Pelley’s sweeping address, which drew applause from some in the crowd, was panned by critics online as overwrought and politically charged.
One social media user slammed the veteran anchor for “raging at Trump in an angry, unhinged commencement address,” while another called him “a self-important, sermonizing propagandist.”
Conservative commentator Juanita Broaddrick, who has long accused former President Bill Clinton of rape, labeled Pelley “a pompous POS” in response to the speech.
Others pointed to the timing of the address, coming as CBS parent company Paramount Global is reportedly in settlement talks with Trump over a $20 billion lawsuit related to a controversial “60 Minutes” interview aired during the 2024 campaign.
Trump’s legal team alleges the show deceptively edited its sit-down with then–Vice President Kamala Harris to aid her candidacy.
Lesley Stahl, another veteran of the broadcast, recently told The New Yorker that some “60 Minutes” staffers considered resigning in protest over the potential payout, which could reportedly reach $15 million.
“Did Scott Pelley mention that 60 Minutes edited Kamala’s campaign interview, and they helped her answer questions???” one critic wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Until he does that, his credibility is ZERO.”
Despite the backlash, Pelley made a direct appeal to the next generation in his remarks, telling the graduates: “Your country needs you — the country that has given you so much is calling you, the class of 2025, your country needs you and it needs you today.”
It’s not the first time a broadcast journalist has drawn fire for injecting politics into a graduation ceremony, but Kurtz suggested the moment underscored what he sees as a pattern at CBS.
Pelley and CBS News have not publicly responded to the criticism.
Meanwhile, mediation efforts in Trump’s lawsuit against the network began earlier this month.
