Veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley was fired from the long-running CBS News show on Tuesday following a bitter clash with the network's editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and new "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton.
"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," Bilton wrote to Pelley in a memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
"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-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal," Bilton said.
"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," he continued. "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."
SCOTT PELLEY HAS HEATED CONFRONTATION WITH NEW '60 MINUTES' BOSS, ACCUSES BARI WEISS OF 'MURDERING' SHOW
Bilton sent a separate memo to "60 Minutes" staff informing them about Pelley's ouster.
"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," Bilton wrote in the memo obtained by Fox News Digital.
"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," he told staff. "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."
In his own statement, Pelley slammed parent company Paramount CEO David Ellison of tarnishing CBS News' reputation "to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration."
"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 were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos," Pelley wrote. "For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them.
After accusing new management of "incompetence and unprofessionalism," he said "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, and so I must leave as well," Pelley wrote.
Pelley's exit came after he lashed out at Bilton during an all-staff meeting Monday where he accused Weiss of "murdering" the storied newsmagazine program and bluntly told Bilton, who has no linear television experience, that he has "slender qualifications" for his new role. Before joining "60 Minutes," Bilton was a documentary filmmaker and a technology journalist for The New York Times and Vanity Fair.
Puck media correspondent Dylan Byers reported Tuesday that CBS News leadership held a meeting with Pelley and that "the two sides did not find common ground," accelerating Pelley's exit from the network. Weiss reportedly asked Pelley to make an apology and accused him of creating a hostile work environment.
Fox News Digital previously learned that Weiss and Bilton repeatedly reached out to Pelley to express they wanted him to remain a "60 Minutes" correspondent and that he hadn't engaged with them prior to Monday's tense showdown, according to a source familiar to CBS News leadership.
CBS NEWS CHIEFS TOLD SCOTT PELLEY THEY WANTED HIM TO STAY ON '60 MINUTES' BEFORE TENSE CLASH WITH NEW PRODUCER
Pelley erupted at the meeting over last week's abrupt firing of several "60 Minutes" staffers, including correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega as well as executive producer Tanya Simon, referring to their ouster as "Black Thursday." Weiss appointed Bilton as Simon's successor the same day.
Pelley, who previously served as the "CBS Evening News" anchor from 2011-2017, 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. In April 2025, he took aim at Paramount following the resignation of "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, who claimed he no longer had editorial independence as the company was engaged in mediation talks with President Donald Trump's legal team to settle a lawsuit he filed in 2024.
CBS NEWS FIRES '60 MINUTES' CORRESPONDENTS, TOP PRODUCER IN SWEEPING SHAKEUP OF STORIED PROGRAM
"Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger," Pelley told viewers at the time. "The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories have been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism required."
"No one here is happy about it, but in resigning, Bill proved one thing. He was the right person to lead '60 Minutes' all along," he added.
The merger was in reference to Paramount's $8 billion takeover by Skydance Media, run by David Ellison, Paramount's new CEO, who appointed Weiss as CBS News' editor-in-chief last fall.
Weeks later, he slammed Trump for filing lawsuits against journalists and their companies "for nothing" during a commencement address at Wake Forest University. Trump accused CBS News of election interference over how the network handled its "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount made an eight-figure settlement to Trump days before his FCC approved of the Paramount-Skydance merger.
"Our previous owners at CBS faced political pressure and crumbled," Pelley reportedly said in March.
SHARYN ALFONSI OUT AT '60 MINUTES' AFTER FEUD WITH BARI WEISS, RIPS CBS FOR 'CHILLING MESSAGE' TO NEWSROOM
Back in January, Pelley swiped Weiss, reportedly telling colleagues, "She needs to take her job a little bit more seriously." That comment came after Weiss clashed with Alfonsi, who accused her of having political motives when she pulled a segment about the infamous El Salvador prison CECOT moments before it was set to air in December. It ultimately aired a month later.
Remaining "60 Minutes" correspondents include Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim. Anderson Cooper previously announced his departure from "60 Minutes" as a correspondent in February after nearly two decades.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
