CBS News fired its longtime 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley on Tuesday evening, amid an ongoing, tumultuous shakeup of the organisation under new leadership. Pelley was told in the firing letter that he appeared to have “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show” nor collaborating with its new executive producer, Nick Bilton.
Pelley’s termination came after reports of a series of recent clashes between him and Bilton, including a heated exchange on Monday during a staff meeting that Bilton accused Pelley of “hijacking”.
In the letter signed by Bilton, he said Pelley was “terminated for cause effective immediately”.
Bilton accused Pelley of being cold and disagreeable towards him from the start of Bilton’s arrival to lead 60 Minutes in late May, including rejecting a dinner invitation.
That animosity then spiralled into the staff meeting on Monday, Bilton said in the letter.
“You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” he wrote.
He also accused Pelley of continued hostility even after the staff meeting, saying that during a subsequent meeting Pelley made clear he was “not interested” in finding a path to resolve their disagreements.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you,” Bilton wrote.
Bilton sent a separate memo to 60 Minutes staff, saying he made multiple attempts to have direct conversations with Pelley and could not find common ground.
“That was not the path Scott chose,” Bilton said in the letter to staff, according to a letter published by CBS News.
The BBC has reached out to CBS News and Pelley for comment.
CBS News has a partnership agreement with the BBC, meaning news content including video footage can be shared. BBC News is editorially independent of CBS.
The upheaval at the news organisation had been under way well before Pelley’s termination, dating back to August 2025 when David Ellison, an ally of US President Donald Trump, bought CBS’s parent company, Paramount.
Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and 60 Minutes correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega were fired last week.
The changes are being led by Bari Weiss, who was installed as the new editor in chief after Ellison’s takeover.
During the Pelley-Bilton confrontation at the staff meeting on Monday, Pelley reportedly accused Weiss of “murdering the show” and said she had “no qualifications for the job”, according to Status, a news site that covers media.
By BBC News
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