I guess this is a big deal but I cannot remember the last time I watched 60 Minutes.
Veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley was fired by CBS News, a day after taking aim at Editor in Chief Bari Weiss’s leadership during a staff meeting for the show.
Executive Producer Nick Bilton sent a note to Pelley on Tuesday night saying he was being terminated for cause, effective immediately, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Pelley interrupted Bilton soon after he started reading introductory remarks at the Monday meeting, according to people in attendance. Pelley accused Weiss, who wasn’t present, of “murdering” “60 Minutes” and questioned Bilton’s qualifications for the executive producer role. Bilton, who was named to the post last week, hasn’t led a weekly TV news show before.
Pelley spoke with Weiss, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, Bilton and a human resources representative Tuesday evening to discuss a path forward after his remarks, a meeting that turned tense.
“Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear,” Bilton wrote to Pelley, calling Pelley’s behavior at Monday’s staff meeting a “performative display of hostility.”
Bilton also sent a note to “60 Minutes” staff to inform them of the news.
“I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly,” he wrote. “I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground.”
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