While accepting a leadership award, famed sportscaster Bob Costas slammed the mainstream media for bowing to President Trump during his second term.
Costas, attending the Mirror Awards in New York City on Monday night, singled out ABC News and CBS News for rolling over after Trump sued both networks.
In a long-winded speech that covered his career in broadcasting and the state of the media business, Costas criticized ABC parent Disney for paying $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit against the network over star anchor George Stephanopoulos saying Trump was found guilty of raping E. Jean Carroll.
Bob Costas slammed the mainstream media over its handling of President Trump’s second term. Richard Shotwell/Invision/APA New York court had found Trump guilty of sexual assault — not rape, a key legal difference — in the civil case.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in that case.
“All they should’ve said was, ‘George misspoke. The president, that paragon of virtue, was only found guilty of sexual assault, not rape. So we stand corrected,’” Costas said of the decision to settle. “They didn’t have to pay a $15 million ransom.”
The Post had previously reported that Stephanopoulos had been told repeatedly by producers to not use the word “rape” but he ignored the warnings.
Costas then turned to CBS parent Paramount Global, which is controlled by Shari Redstone, over its attempts to settle another Trump suit over the allegedly biased editing of a “60 Minutes” sit-down with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Costas said outlets like ABC News, CNN, and CBS News have pandered to President Trump and his worldview instead of challenging it. REUTERSParamount is looking to close an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media in a move that would require the green light from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.
The network has denied it deceptively edited the “60 Minutes” interview to make Harris sound more cogent.
Under pressure from Trump’s lawsuit and higher-ups at Paramount, longtime “60 Minutes” boss Bill Owens exited the company, citing waning editorial independence.
The veteran sportscaster ripped ABC after it paid Trump $16 million to settle his defamation lawsuit over George Stephanopoulos’ use of the word “rape.” ABC via Getty Images“And did Shari Redstone, because she wants to affect a merger that Trump’s FCC can stand in the way of, did she have to besmirch and undercut the gold standard in our lifetime of broadcast journalism, ’60 Minutes’?” Costas said.
“Paying $20 million in ransom to Trump is just the cost of doing business when there’s billions of dollars at stake. These are ongoing assaults on the basic idea of a free press.”
Costas also took a jab at CNN, which he claimed has “valorized” Trump “in the name of being balanced,” dubbing such work “MAGA media.” CNN brass have pushed for anchors to try to remain objective when covering the Trump administration.
Costas also called out Shari Redstone, who has pushed for Paramount to settle Trump’s
lawsuit over a “60 Minutes'” sit-down with Kamala Harris. FilmMagic“But if the answer to that is MAGA media, if the answer to that is Donald Trump’s view of the world, which is only through a prism of what benefits him, there are no higher ideals. There are no principles at work other than what benefits him,” he said. “I’ll stay with where we are without correction if the correction is what Donald Trump represents.”
“If someone says — and the idea that you have to find somebody who will not just defend Donald Trump, but valorize it, even on CNN or wherever else, just in the name of being balanced — look, if someone is contending that the Earth is flat, in order to appear objective, you are not required to say, ‘Well, maybe it might be oblong.’ No, it’s not,” Costas said. “Certainly things are just true.”
He concluded: “And regrettably, something that’s true in America right now is that the president of the United States has absolutely no regard, and in fact has contempt, for basic American principles and basic common decency.”
Mediaite first reported on Costas’ comments.
