‘60 Minutes’ Draws Criticism for Marjorie Taylor Greene Interview: ‘It’s a Failure on CBS’

J. Kim Murphy
·4-min read

“60 Minutes” has drawn criticism from journalists and other public figures for its sit-down interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which aired on Sunday evening.

In the interview, Greene asserted that Democrats are the “party of pedophiles,” saying, “They support grooming children… Even Joe Biden himself supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries.”

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The Republican representative doubled down on her comments in a Tweet, writing, “I will always fight to protect kids!”

Greene, who was elected to a House seat representing Georgia in 2020, has been a primary subject of fervent criticism from Democratic figures for several years. During her campaign, she voiced support for a range of conspiracy theories promoted by the QAnon movement, which the FBI has deemed a domestic terror group. She has also promoted misinformation regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

Greene was interviewed by “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl. Criticism of the segment registered days before it even aired, with a promotional post from the program’s Twitter account drawing outrage.

Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger called it “insane” that the program would air an interview with a figure like Greene. The Atlantic contributor Jemele Hill criticized the framing of the social media promotion as “shit” and stated that “60 Minutes” was “platforming stupid.” Many other journalists, political figures and celebrities chimed in with their own criticism, responding to the tweet by “60 Minutes.”

Gun control activist and Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg tweeted after the interview, “This is a hot take but I’m glad 60 minutes gave Marjorie Taylor Greene airtime. It’s important to interview one of the main leaders of the Republican Party so the American people know everything and I mean everything they support. Including denying school shootings.”

On “60 Minutes,” Greene bristled at Stahl when asked to clarify her past comments that the Parkland shooting was a “false flag.”

“I never said that Parkland was a false flag. School shootings are horrible, I don’t think it’s anything to joke about,” Greene said, to which Stahl responded, “We fact checked.”

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wrote on Twitter, “I have been on a month-long book tour, pushing the importance of tougher interviews and need for follow-up Qs. I had a piece in The Atlantic on how to deal with Gish Galloping by bad faith interviewees. And then… Leslie Stahl goes and does *that* interview with MTG. Kill. Me. Now.”

David Corn, an MSNBC analyst and D.C. bureau chief of Mother Jones, added, “It’s a failure on CBS and Stahl’s part to give MTG such an unimpeded platform to spread such garbage.”

Greene, who had previously been permanently banned from Twitter for policy violations regarding COVID misinformation (before being reinstated after Elon Musk acquired the company), promoted the “60 Minutes” appearance on Saturday evening, in a post that misspelled Lesley Stahl’s name.

“It was an honor to spend a few days with the legendary icon Leslie Stahl,” Greene wrote. “Leslie is a trailblazer for women in journalism. And while we may disagree on some issues, I respect her greatly.”

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