Scott Pelley was terminated from “60 Minutes” Tuesday evening, hours after the longtime correspondent met with CBS News leadership to discuss a Monday clash in which he accused editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the program.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton wrote in a letter sent to Pelley and reviewed by TheWrap. “And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately.”
He also accused Pelley of hijacking his meeting and putting on a “performative display of hostility,” which Bilton felt “demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”
Bilton then broke the news of Pelley’s exit with the “60 Minutes” team, voicing his “unyielding support” for the remaining employees.
Read his full message to the “60 Minutes” team below:
“You should hear this from me first. We have parted ways with Scott Pelley. I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose. What I regret most is that this situation interfered with the conversation I had hoped to have with you about Season 59 and the future of this show. I realize this is a great deal of change in a very short time, and I wouldn’t pretend otherwise. I won’t relitigate the last week with you here. What I will commit to is this: My unyielding support for each of you, the journalism that you do and what we will do together going forward.”
After his termination, Pelley told the New York Times that he still cared deeply about “60 Minutes” and highlighted his “devotion” to the broadcast.
“I have been in combat in Afghanistan,” Pelley said. “I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast.”
He added that Bilton’s statement “betrays a complete misunderstanding of what we work for and what we live for at ‘60 Minutes.’”
Additionally, he lambasted the leaders at the news program and its parent company, stating, “The collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of ‘60 Minutes’ is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone.” He slammed Weiss as “cold and callous and beneath the dignity of CBS News” after failing to answers his questions on why former executive producer Tanya Simon was dismissed.
Pelley also told the Times that he had been pressured by CBS News senior managers to put bias into his “60 Minutes” stories this past season. A representative for CBS News did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
As TheWrap previously reported, Pelley was expected to part ways with “60 Minutes” and CBS News after locking horns with the new executive producer and accusing editor-in-chief Weiss of dismantling the storied newsmagazine. Pelley met with network leadership Tuesday afternoon, but according to multiple reports, they could not “find common ground,” setting the stage for either his termination or his resignation.
The former “CBS Evening News” anchor put Weiss on blast in a heated meeting Monday morning after last week’s dismissal of executive producer Tanya Simon and a number of correspondents, including “Inside CECOT” journalist Sharyn Alfonsi.
“She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place,” Pelley said, according to leaked audio, interrupting a staff meeting with Simon’s replacement, Bilton. “She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”
Pelley also called out the new executive producer, a former tech journalist and filmmaker with no previous broadcast TV experience, for his “slender qualifications for this job.”
A person close to CBS News leadership called Pelley’s outburst “disappointing” in a Monday night call with TheWrap, noting that Weiss and Bilton had made several attempts in the last week to reach out to the correspondent and communicate that he’s valued at “60 Minutes.”
Pelley was easily the most prominent figure remaining at “60 Minutes” amid Weiss’ recent shakeup, which saw the departures of — among others — correspondents Cecilia Vega and Alfonsi. However, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim all still remain on at “60 Minutes.”
Nonetheless, Pelley’s loss is substantial, given he stood as the most-accoladed correspondent in the show’s history. In addition to 40 Emmys, Pelley has four Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards, three Peabodys, multiple Murrow, Loeb, and Writers Guild honors and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
