BREAKING: CBS News FIRES Longtime '60 Minutes' Anchor in Massive Network Shakeup

In the latest major shakeup over at CBS News, veteran ’60 Minutes’ anchor Scott Pelley has been terminated.

After 27 years, he is out at the network — effective immediately!

This comes amid sweeping changes at CBS News, as the new Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss attempts to fix the network’s reputation and start earning back the trust of viewers.

Here are the details:

Veteran '60 Minutes' correspondent Scott Pelley is out at CBS News after clashes with the network's editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and the show's new executive producer Nick Bilton.

Pelley's exit comes after he lashed out at Bilton during an all-staff meeting where he accused Weiss… pic.twitter.com/Of2B1slCi4

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 3, 2026

Veteran ’60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley is out at CBS News after clashes with the network’s editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and the show’s new executive producer Nick Bilton.

Pelley’s exit comes after he lashed out at Bilton during an all-staff meeting where he accused Weiss of “murdering” the program and bluntly told Bilton, who has no linear television experience, that he has “slender qualifications” for his new role.

Weiss reportedly asked Pelley to make an apology and accused him of creating a hostile work environment.

Pelley, who previously served as the ‘CBS Evening News’ anchor, first joined CBS News in 1989 and later joined ’60 Minutes’ as a correspondent in 2004. In recent years, Pelley was outspoken with criticism of his bosses, including at CBS News’ parent company Paramount.

There’s a lot of drama surrounding Pelley’s firing.

Last week, Bari Weiss fired the longtime executive producer of ’60 Minutes’ and several anti-Trump correspondents.

We covered that in more detail here:

’60 Minutes’ Executive Producer & Anti-Trump Correspondents FIRED Amid CBS News Overhaul

In response to this, Scott Pelley reportedly accused Weiss of "murdering" the show.

Particularly, Pelley complained about Weiss' decision to fire several of his colleagues during a meeting with the new executive producer she hired, Nick Bilton.

Now, Pelley has been fired, as well!

Nick Bilton was the one who formally informed Pelley that his contract had been terminated.

Per NBC News:

CBS News has fired veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley a day after he confronted the show’s new executive producer at a heated staff meeting.

“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you,” “60 Minutes” executive producer Nick Bilton said in a letter addressed to Pelley, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News.

“I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately,” Bilton added.

In a separate note to “60 Minutes” staffers, Bilton confirmed that the network had “parted ways” with Pelley.

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“I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly,” Bilton wrote. “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.”

Pelley’s exit deepens the turmoil at “60 Minutes,” the leading newsmagazine on American television. In recent months, “60 Minutes” employees have clashed with CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over the show’s editorial direction under its new corporate owner, Paramount Skydance, the media company run by technology scion David Ellison.

The tension reached a fever pitch Monday during a “60 Minutes” staff meeting designed to introduce employees to Bilton, a technology journalist tapped by Weiss to be executive producer of the program. Pelley laced into Bilton, according to an audio recording obtained by NBC News and a source who was in the room.

Bilton, a documentary filmmaker and a former tech columnist at The New York Times, told the gathered staffers that Weiss “loves this institution,” according to the recording. Pelley interrupted Bilton and pushed back, accusing Weiss of “murdering” the venerable newsmagazine, which debuted in September 1968.

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“She does not love this place,” Pelley told Bilton, according to the recording. “She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

This evening, Bari Weiss, Nick Bilton, and other CBS News executives held a meeting with Scott Pelley to discuss his outbursts at the meeting earlier this week.

Pelley showed no signs of remorse or willing to work together on a solution, so they decided to cut him loose.

Dylan Byers of The Puck obtained the full termination letter that Pelley received after the meeting.

#BREAK: CBS NEWS has terminated Scott Pelley's contract. pic.twitter.com/vbXyX8PBBv

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) June 3, 2026

Here's the full text of that letter:

Dear Mr. Pelley:

I meant what I said in my letter last week to the 60 Minutes team: joining 60 Minutes is the honor of my career and I am grateful to be working alongside the people who have contributed to the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced. While I’m new to 60 Minutes, I’ve devoted my career to investigative journalism and storytelling. I started this job excited to collaborate and to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the 60 Minutes veterans, with you among them. For that reason, one of the first things I did in my new role was call you to talk and invite you to dinner. It is a profound disappointment that you rejected that overture and chose ambush instead. Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort. Yesterday’s performative display of hostility—enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation—demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress. I am here to deliver first-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal.

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Despite yesterday’s misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path.

Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. (“CBS”) to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately. Enclosed is your formal termination letter.

Sincerely,

Nick Bilton
Executive Producer, 60 Minutes

NBC News covered Pelly's original criticism of Weiss' decision further in these clips:

🚨 NOW: In a HUGE FAFO moment, CBS has just TERMINATED 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley's contract, "EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY"

Pelley accused Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of "MURDERING" the show and got into a heated meeting

Executive Producer fired back in a scathing letter: "Your… pic.twitter.com/magpFWa4Om

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 3, 2026

NOW: In a HUGE FAFO moment, CBS has just TERMINATED 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley's contract, "EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY"

Pelley accused Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of "MURDERING" the show and got into a heated meeting

Executive Producer fired back in a scathing letter: "Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. 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." — obtained by Puck News

BRUTAL. 💀

Good riddance!

What do you think?