In his first interview since walking away from NBC’s “Tonight Show," Conan O’Brien tells “60 Minutes” Sunday night that he believes he was not given a fair chance to prove he could succeed and that money may have been the reason NBC decided to bring Jay Leno back to late-night television.

Mr. O’Brien granted the interview to the CBS correspondent Steve Kroft under the provision that it could not be broadcast until after May 1, because in his departure agreement with NBC he was prohibited from appearing on television or any other form of media until after that date.

In the interview, Mr. Kroft presses Mr. O’Brien about his view of Mr. Leno’s move to return to late-night television, and while he says he cannot get inside Mr. Leno’s head, Mr. O’Brien does implicitly criticize his former NBC colleague for reversing his previous position that he was giving up the “Tonight Show."

“If I had surrendered ’The Tonight Show’ and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well,” Mr., O’Brien says, referring to Mr. Leno’s on-the-air hand-off of the show to Mr. O’Brien last May, “and then... six months later. ...” Mr. O’Brien adds, referring to Mr. Leno’s willingness to return to the show.