’60 Minutes’ Fires Back After Trump Interview Criticism: See How Show Reacted
What To Know
- 60 Minutes addressed bipartisan viewer criticism of its recent interview with President Trump.
- Viewers expressed opposing complaints, with some accusing the show of attacking Trump and others claiming it was too deferential.
- Additional criticism focused on the editing of the broadcast, the omission of certain comments, and the way the president was addressed by the interviewer.
60 Minutes acknowledged the criticism of its interview with President Donald Trump on Sunday’s (November 9) show by reading out some of the feedback it received from viewers.
Towards the end of Sunday’s episode, Cecilia Vega addressed the backlash, saying, “In the mail, we received hundreds of notes about our interview with President Trump. The country may be politically divided, but the criticism we got from viewers was bipartisan.”
Last week, Trump sat down with former CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell for a wide-ranging discussion. An edited 30-minute version of the interview aired on the 60 Minutes television broadcast, with the full hour-plus version later uploaded to the 60 Minutes YouTube channel.
On Sunday, Vega read some of the criticism, including from one viewer who wrote, “Instead of interviewing him, it appeared as an attack.”
Another added, “You should have more respect than what you showed.”
“Others complained we were too deferential to the President,” Vega continued before reading more criticism.
“You wanted to show Trump in the best possible light,” wrote one viewer, while another said, “There were no hard questions, no meaningful pushback.”
Vega ended the segment by reading a note from one viewer who claimed to have switched the show off. “Donald Trump gets lots and lots of time on TV as president. He has power, and so do I,” the viewer stated. “When I saw that he was being interviewed on last Sunday’s show, I used my power and turned it off immediately.”
Previously, some viewers complained that 60 Minutes omitted specific questions and comments from the broadcast version of the interview. This included Trump boasting about how the show paid him “a lot of money” in the lawsuit he filed against them last year and threatening to walk out over questions about why he pardoned crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao.
Others slammed O’Donnell for referring to the President as “Mr. Trump” during her introduction; O’Donnell had previously called him “President Trump” earlier in her intro.
60 Minutes, Sundays, 7/6c, CBS
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