Count Anderson Cooper among the journalists who don’t wanna work with Bari Weiss

This story originally appeared on Them.

Amid Paramount Skydance’s pending purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper reportedly isn’t happy at the prospect of being in a newsroom led by controversial CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

Cooper, who is CNN’s most well-known host, has apparently told colleagues that he doesn’t want to work for Weiss, per the New York Times. Cooper left 60 Minutes, which is under Weiss’s direction, in May after 20 years with the program. At the time of his departure, Cooper told the Associated Press that working for 60 Minutes had been “one of the great honors of my career.”

He continued, “I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors and camera crew in the business. For nearly 20 years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs and CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time with me.”

Per the Associated Press, Cooper had no comment as to whether Weiss’s tenure at CBS, and at 60 Minutes, weighed on his decision to leave the prestigious television program. However, Status, a site led by former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy published a report claiming Cooper’s decision was driven by the network’s direction under Weiss.

Weiss’s tenure at CBS News began in October and quickly courted controversy. Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes story about abuses at an El Salvador detention center where Trump had been sending Venezuelan migrants just a day and a half before it was set to air. She had pushed 60 Minutes to receive on-air comment from Stephen Miller, the white nationalist who serves as president Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy.

Sharyn Alfonsi, the 60 Minutes correspondent who reported the story, called the move an “not an editorial decision” but a “political” one in an email sent to colleagues, per NPR.

“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi continued in the email. “If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”

Both Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega were forced out of 60 Minutes in May. Days later, Scott Pelley, who worked there since 2004, was also let go after he accused Weiss of “murdering 60 Minutes” in a staff meeting. “She does not love this place,” Pelley said, per the New York Times. “She was brought in to kill it, and she's been doing exactly that.”

Weiss made a name for herself in the news world through various New York Times pieces slamming “cancel culture” and through the founding of the Free Press, an outlet that has published an array of “gender critical” voices, including J.K. Rowling. The Free Press has repeatedly published misinformation about transgender people, including one piece — later found to have many fabrications — that alleged the mother of a trans child had no say in her child being prescribed puberty blockers.

Though Cooper has not made public comments about Weiss, he did use his final moments on 60 Minutes to warn against the program’s changing identity.

“There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has, and maintain the quality that it has,” Cooper said. “Things can always evolve and change, I think that’s awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains.”

He continued, “The trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of 60 Minutes.”