CBS News has fired top “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley amid a debate over the direction of the show, which has been a mainstay of the network’s television programming for decades.
“Your employment with CBS News is terminated for cause effective immediately,” Nick Bilton, the new executive producer of “60 Minutes,” wrote to Pelley in a letter seen by CNBC. It is not clear when the letter was sent.
Pelley previously said that Bari Weiss, the executive editor of CBS News, was “killing” “60 Minutes,” according to NBC News.
In a statement obtained by MS Now, Pelley said the network was trying to “curry favor with the Trump administration.”
“The waste is heartbreaking,” Pelley wrote.
Skydance and Paramount merged last year, putting new executives in charge of CBS and other Paramount properties, including the popular movie studio and a more nascent streaming business. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is currently trying to merge Paramount with Warner Bros. Discovery, and it needs regulatory approval from the Trump administration to finalize the deal.
In 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump sued “60 Minutes,” alleging that the program misleadingly edited an interview with his opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount settled the lawsuit for $16 million, which angered some veteran “60 Minutes” employees, including Pelley. Another notable presenter, Anderson Cooper, announced he was leaving the show earlier this month.
“For my part, I have been asked by new management to inject lies and bias into a politically sensitive story,” Pelley said in his statement. “I have been asked to include unverified claims. So far, in all cases, I have successfully ignored or refused these instructions.”
In a meeting Monday, Pelley told Bilton he had “few qualifications” for the role of executive producer of the news magazine “60 Minutes,” according to the NBC News report.
Bilton is a former technology columnist for The New York Times and has directed several documentaries for HBO and Netflix. Bilton replaced Tanya Simon as executive producer of the series. Simon had spent more than two decades at “60 Minutes” before being ousted last week. In contrast, Bilton has no experience running a television news show.
“The leadership of ’60 Minutes’ is no longer recognizable,” Pelley said in his statement. “The principles that are dear to me have disappeared and so I must leave too.”
In a May 28 interview, Bilton told CNBC that he is committed to demonstrating that his hiring is not a political maneuver.
“I’m going to prove it with my work,” Bilton said. “I am committed to holding those in power accountable.”
During an editorial call Tuesday with CBS, Weiss told staff that she “is only interested in working in a newsroom built on trust and mutual respect,” according to a transcript of the call obtained by CNBC.
“That foundation was shattered on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and find a way to come back, unfortunately we were unable to do so and so we had to go our separate ways,” Weiss said. “We didn’t want this to happen, but this is the path he chose.”
CBS News President Tom Cibrowski added during the call that the organization “will miss Scott greatly.”
In a later statement obtained by MS Now, Pelley disputed Weiss’ account of the situation and said “no constructive dialogue was permitted by CBS executives at any time.”
Read Pelley’s full statement on his firing:
There has never been anything like 60 Minutes in America.
The Sunday Tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For over a decade, its innovative growth across all major online platforms has extended its reach to countless millions of people around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes experienced rapid growth with an unprecedented 9% increase in viewership on CBS.
“60” has been the number one show in America for decades because our beloved audiences find integrity, quality and humanity in our stories. When leadership of the program was handed over to my colleagues and I, our responsibility was to aggressively expand into a new era of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Today, the new owner of our network is putting this legend aside, apparently to curry favor with the Trump administration.
The waste is heartbreaking.
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. Good people have been silenced because they stood up for our public. They defended fairness against the forces of political prejudice; they defended professionalism against chaos.
For my part, the new management asked me to inject lies and prejudice into a politically sensitive story. I was told to include unverified claims. So far, in all cases, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians were asked to choose correspondents for interviews on the show. Giving politicians control of 60 Minutes interviews is not the way to do it. Finally, the incompetence and lack of professionalism of the new management have taken their toll. In one case involving one of my stories, the entire program aired 19 minutes after it was interrupted at all.
At 60 Minutes, we fought harder than anyone realizes to save the program that has become an American icon. We owe it to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in this fight. But today, the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles that I hold dear are gone and so I must leave too.
I leave after 37 years at CBS with only one emotion: a heart overflowing with gratitude to the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when these people and their ideals will be honored again – a day when reason, competence, and courage will return.
Scott Pelley
—CNBC Alex Sherman And Ryan Ruggiero contributed to this report.