Scott Pelley Fired By CBS After Confrontation With New ‘60 Minutes’ EP

BusinessMediaScott Pelley Fired By CBS After Confrontation With New ‘60 Minutes’ EPByRick Ellis,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. The global media business, from streaming to linear TVFollow AuthorJun 02, 2026, 10:31pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.NEW YORK - OCTOBER 17: Scott Pelley, Correspondent, 60 MINUTES. (Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS News via Getty Images)CBS via Getty ImagesScott Pelley, a longtime employee of CBS News and a correspondent on the newsmagazine 60 Minutes, has been fired from the network following a confrontation Monday morning with Nick Bilton, the new Executive Producer of 60 Minutes.During the regular Monday all-hands meeting with the staff of 60 Minutes, Pelley began questioning Bilton, who had just been named the new EP of the show. His hiring was preceded by last Thursday by the firing of several people on the show.According to a report published by Guardian US reporter Jeremy Barr after the meeting, Pelley asked Bilton directly to explain the firings and expressed his disappointment with the way things had been handled on the show since Bari Weiss took over as the new head of CBS News: “She’s murdering 60 Minutes,” Pelley said, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.” Forelle accused Pelley of being rude, and Pelley countered by saying that the network had been rude by the way it treated Tanya Simon, the show’s executive producer who was fired on Thursday. Oliver Darcy at the Status newsletter was given access to audio from the meeting, which recounted a tense and often angry series of exchanges between Pelley and Bilton:Bilton tried to move the meeting along, but Pelley pressed on, challenging the new executive producer’s references in interviews to “60 Minutes” creator Don Hewitt’s vision for the pro...