In his first interview since being dismissed, Scott Pelley said he didn't see his exit from 60 Minutes coming. The veteran correspondent described a chaotic shake-up he calls "Black Thursday," when the show's entire senior staff—including executive producer Tanya Simon—and a third of its correspondents were summarily pushed out despite strong ratings and digital growth. "The night before, Tanya and I were at the Emmy Awards, and we won two Emmys," Pelley told Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the New York Times. "Within hours, all of those people have been wiped out."
Their replacements are being led by CBS News chief Bari Weiss and 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton, both of whom arrived with no TV news background. Pelley recounts confronting Bilton in a staff meeting after an email he found condescending and a statement Bilton read off his phone to what Pelley described as a "heartbroken" room. Days later, Pelley says, he was fired after being accused—falsely, he insists—of physically intimidating Bilton. Pelley, 68, also accused Weiss of trying to tilt a politically sensitive Minneapolis protest piece to better match the administration's account, which he said he refused to do.
In a statement, CBS said Weiss' notes "had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible," per USA Today. Pelley, who wants Weiss removed and said trust is "broken," told the Times the problems can still be fixed. But he framed the turmoil as an existential threat: "Right now, CBS News is on fire."
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