CBS News has fired longtime “60 Minutes” anchor Scott Pelley after the journalist had a ferocious meltdown in front of management and staff.
“Your employment with CBS News is terminated for cause effective immediately,” Nick Bilton, the new executive producer of the network’s signature broadcast, wrote to Pelley.
CBS has fired “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, and rightly so. He betrayed journalistic principles in platforming debunked science, in being closed-minded and dogmatic, and in behaving like a pompous ass. Good riddance. https://t.co/saRQ6YCil8 pic.twitter.com/GMk7lfymP3
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) June 3, 2026
Bilton told Pelley he “chose ambush” over harmony.
“You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt.”
Bilton added Pelley’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.”
Here’s Scott Pelley before his 60 Minutes interview with Biden in late 2023 letting everyone know that Biden’s stutter can return when he’s been working too hard.
I can’t believe that 60 Minutes somehow missed Biden’s decline. 😜 pic.twitter.com/naqP8jjFLp
— MAZE (@mazemoore) June 1, 2026
Pelley wasted no time firing back at Bilton and CBS, saying: “The new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of 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 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 continued: “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. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast.
“Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”
This is the 60 Minutes that Scott Pelley wants to return to. Pure propaganda.
Flashback to the Russia Collusion hoax. Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes interviews serial liar Andrew McCabe.
McCabe tells Pelley that Trump may be an agent of Russia and also insinuates that Trump is… pic.twitter.com/2QYorERZ3v
— MAZE (@mazemoore) June 1, 2026
NBC News reported Pelley previously said Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of CBS News, was “murdering” “60 Minutes.”
Author and former California gubernatorial candidate Michael Shellenberger said Pelley was “rightly” fired by CBS, explaining: “He betrayed journalistic principles in platforming debunked science, in being closed-minded and dogmatic, and in behaving like a pompous ass. Good riddance.”
It’s the honor of my career to become the executive producer of 60 Minutes. I just shared the note below with the incredible staff and can’t wait to get started. pic.twitter.com/4PHmHJF3Bj
— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) May 28, 2026
As WorldNetDaily reported last July, in the wake of legal action over a deceptively edited “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris in the 2024 White House race, President Donald Trump said CBS and its parent company Paramount have finally paid a $16 million settlement, with another $20 million on the way.
“Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars.”
I was an intern at @CBSNews when Pelley would fill in for Katie Couric on the evening news. I watched in the control room one day as he directed them to slowly push the shot in on him as he took his glasses off. It was so fake I’ve remembered it for 15 years. https://t.co/mK7khEdQpm pic.twitter.com/atbk9LmgzM
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) June 3, 2026
The president called it “a BIG AND IMPORTANT WIN in our Historic Lawsuit” against the media giant.
“Just like ABC and George Slopadopoulos, CBS and its Corporate Owners knew that they defrauded the American People, and were desperate to settle.”
Follow Joe on X @JoeKovacsNews
