Scott Pelley fired after accusing Bari Weiss of ‘murdering’ 60 Minutes

Award-winning broadcaster Scott Pelley spent more than three decades at CBS News, reported from war zones, covered presidents, anchored the network’s evening newscast, and became one of the defining faces of 60 Minutes. What ultimately ended his tenure was a fight over Bari Weiss and her latest hire.

CBS News terminated Pelley on Tuesday after the veteran correspondent publicly accused the network’s editor-in-chief of "murdering" 60 Minutes and questioned the qualifications of newly installed executive producer Nick Bilton, according to accounts first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by multiple news outlets.

The dismissal marks the most dramatic escalation yet in a crisis that has engulfed the nation's once most influential television news program since Weiss, the former New York Times opinion editor and founder of The Free Press, assumed editorial control of CBS News last year.

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For months, journalists inside and outside CBS have warned that Weiss's restructuring of the network threatened the editorial independence that made 60 Minutes one of the most trusted brands in American journalism. Last week, those concerns erupted into open revolt after the departures of executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.

Pelley became the rebellion's most visible voice.

During Bilton's first staff meeting, Pelley reportedly accused Weiss of deliberately dismantling the program.

"She is murdering 60 Minutes," Pelley said, according to multiple accounts of the meeting. He also reportedly told colleagues that Weiss "does not love this place" and was brought in "to kill it."

The comments earned a standing ovation from staff, according to reports. Twenty-four hours later, he was gone.

Last December, at the Walter Cronkite Awards in Washington, D.C., Pelley, who received an award for excellence in political journalism, told attendees that the show had maintained its independence.

“Last season, all of our stories got on the air,” he said then. “We got them all on the air with an absolute minimum of interference.”

That has now changed.

Documents obtained by Zeteo correspondent Justin Baragona reveal that Bilton accused Pelley of staging a "performative display of hostility," publicly disparaging his leadership, and refusing repeated efforts to reconcile. In a termination letter, Bilton wrote that Pelley's actions demonstrated "no interest in contributing to the future success of the show."

"Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear," Bilton wrote before informing Pelley that his employment was terminated "for cause effective immediately."

Pelley, however, has suggested the stakes are much larger.

In comments to The New York Times, he described the conflict as part of a broader struggle over the show's future and the journalistic culture that has defined the program for nearly six decades. His criticism came after what employees reportedly called "Black Friday," the abrupt removal of senior figures closely associated with the show's traditional leadership structure.

As The Advocate previously reported, Weiss, who is queer, arrived at CBS promising to modernize the news division and expand 60 Minutes beyond its traditional Sunday night format. Supporters have described her as a disruptive reformer willing to challenge institutional complacency. Critics see a political and cultural project that is transforming one of television's most respected news organizations into an ideologically driven operation.

Those concerns intensified after Alfonsi said she believed she was punished for resisting pressure surrounding a report on deportations to a Salvadoran prison. Vega, in announcing her departure, warned of efforts to suppress journalism and described a culture increasingly at odds with the mission that drew her to CBS News.