Scott Galloway turned down a position at “60 Minutes” under new leadership from CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
“And what did I say? I break your arm, correct?” his “Pivot” podcast co-host Kara Swisher said.
“No f–king way,” he said.
The professor and media personality was approached to join the team as an on-air correspondent, specifically filling the role of curmudgeon culture commentator Andy Rooney. Galloway has built a following for his quippy takes and advice for men across social media platforms and the network seemingly wanted to capitalize on that audience.
“I grew up watching ‘60 Minutes’ with my mother,” he said. “Had someone called me 12 or 24 months ago offering me that role I would’ve said I’ll pay you … That would’ve been, other than hosting a podcast with you [Swisher], my crowning achievement professionally.”
And now I’m not going to add to this chorus of unqualified people just cosplaying journalists,” he continued. “This is the last f–king thing I want to be associated with right now.”
Galloway then lamented why decorated journalist Lesley Stahl has stayed at the network with all the high-profile firings and exits.
“I predicted she would do this and everyone said I was wrong,” Swisher said. “She does have a loyalty to the place. She’s been there so long, and so she feels that by staying, she’s protecting it — at least someone’s here to hold it back and watch over them.”
“From the other point of view, she thinks she can save it,” Swisher added. “My problem is they’re going to go right around her. I don’t think she realizes that.”
Galloway added that Stahl is 84 years old, and that her days are numbered at CBS and “60 Minutes” regardless. He said that a trusted friend should have told her to take the chaos at the network as a sign to exit on top.
“She had a chance to put the world’s greatest dot on top of the exclamation point at the end of a great career, and she missed it. This was the perfect exit to a storied career,” he said.
“I’m not s–tposting her for staying — I’m s–tposting her for not taking an unbelievable opportunity to put a Tiffany ribbon on the aquamarine blue box that was her Tiffany career. What a missed opportunity.”
“60 Minutes” has seen many prominent exits of some of its most notable correspondents and producers since Weiss took control of CBS News. CBS dismissed executive producer Tanya Simon, longtime producer Draggan Mihailovich and correspondent Cecilia Vega on May 28. A day earlier, the network declined to renew correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s contract, a correspondent who fought with Weiss for holding her “Inside CECOT” story earlier this year.
CBS has not publicly explained the personnel decisions.
Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley directly challenged the new executive producer Nick Bilton in an editorial meeting and was subsequently fired after criticizing network leadership during the meeting and accusing Weiss of “murdering” the program.
