Why was Scott Pelley fired from “60 Minutes”? Inside the news veteran’s CBS ouster

Key Points

• Scott Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes following a tense meeting with new executive editor Nick Bilton.

• 60 Minutes has seen several shake-ups under its recently appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

• Pelley says “60 Minutes lost its DNA” after its recent firings.

Chaos continues to reign at 60 Minutes under Bari Weiss, the recently appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News.

A number of shakeups have hit the historic news program since Weiss was brought on in October 2025, following Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount Global and its assets. Executive editor Draggan Mihailovich and executive producer Tanya Simon were both fired. Correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega, and Anderson Cooper, meanwhile, have all departed or been fired.

Pelley’s exit stemmed from a testy staff meeting on June 1, during which he became irate over the direction of 60 Minutes under Weiss. He also expressed disappointment about the hiring of filmmaker and former tech journalist Nick Bilton as Simon’s replacement.

Pelley, who had worked on the show since 2004, lashed out at Weiss, declaring that she is “murdering” 60 Minutes. On June 2, it was reported that Pelley had been sacked from his post.

Read on for our full breakdown of why Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes, and how Weiss and Pelley have responded to the situation.

Why was Scott Pelley fired from 60 Minutes?

On June 1, CBS News staff gathered for a meeting to introduce Bilton to the rest of the team. Bilton had been hired the week before to replace Simon.

As reported by the New York Times and Status, Pelley voiced his disagreement with Bilton after the new executive producer declared that Weiss “loves this institution” and “loves 60 Minutes.”

“She is murdering 60 Minutes,” Pelley said of Weiss. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

Pelley reportedly said that Weiss, who was absent from the meeting, had “no qualifications for her job,” and added that Bilton had “slender qualifications for this job.”

He continued, “The changes that she’s made at the Evening News have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”

The next day, Bilton fired Pelley in a letter obtained by Entertainment Weekly. “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” it reads. “And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated effective immediately.”

In the letter, Bilton also accused Pelley of having “hijacked” the meeting in order to “disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt.”

EW has reached out to representatives for Pelley and CBS News for comment.

How did Bari Weiss respond to the firing?

In audio obtained by The Washington Post, Weiss said she had attempted to “find a way back” with Pelley, but ultimately “had to part ways.”

“I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here when I say that I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect. That foundation was broken on Monday,” she said on a call with staff.

Weiss did commend Pelley for his time on the show. “That unfortunate outcome does not discount from the amazing contributions and work that Scott Pelley has done for CBS and for 60 Minutes over the course of his career,” she said.

Tom Cibrowski, executive editor and president of CBS News, reportedly joined Weiss in praising Pelley, describing him as an “integral part of 60 Minutes, CBS Evening News, and this entire news organization for decades.”

Pelley later responded to earlier reports that Weiss had attempted to find equal ground with him. As reported by the New York Times’ Ben Mullin in a post on X, Pelley refuted the content of Weiss’ audio recording transcript entirely.

“Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true,” he said bluntly. “In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to ‘find a way back,’ as Weiss said in the editorial meeting. At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution. Weiss and Tom Cibrowski were openly hostile from the start. ‘Firing’ was raised by Cibrowski in the first 15 seconds. No CBS executive, at any time, suggested a way back.’ To say so now is disingenuous. And they know it.”

What has Pelley said about his firing?

On June 2, Pelley reacted to his firing in a statement.

“60 [Minutes] has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” it begins.

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Pelly went on to accuse the network’s new ownership, Paramount Skydance, of trading their values in order “to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”

“Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause,” he said, referring to Alfonsi and Vega. “Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.”

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