60 Minutes was hit with a considerable amount of changes throughout the summer, as CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and co. began to evaluate the direction of the show. That ultimately led to several notable series alums being fired. That news came down on May 28, and has since been referred to as “Black Thursday.” Sources have since dropped claims about what happened in the immediate aftermath of the oustings. However, now a notable series alum is weighing in on how the post-firing meeting went down.
By the time of that previously mentioned meeting, Scott Pelley had not been fired by CBS just yet. At the time, he was apparently looking for answers regarding why several of his co-workers had been relieved of their duties. Pelley recently explained that a staff meeting was held shortly after the staff changes were made, and remaining employees hoped to get some answers. However, as Pelley outlined, the meeting ended up going much differently than he and others expected:
After everybody was fired, they called us into the staff meeting – which we thought was going to be a staff meeting with Bari Weiss, the editor-in-chief of CBS News – so that she could explain why she fired all these people and how we were going to move forward and all of that. Well, we come into the staff meeting and there’s no Bari Weiss. So, now, the room is pretty unhappy about that.
60 Minutes’ firings impacted correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi as well EP Tanya Simon. Executive editor Draggan Mihailovich was let go on that Thursday as well. While having his sit-down conversation at the Press Forward Summit (which was shared to YouTube), Pelley recalled a different bigwig coming in to talk with the staff and, apparently, that didn’t go over well:
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Then the new gentleman comes in. His name is [executive producer] Nick Bilton. He comes to the front of the room and he starts reading a statement to the staff off of his phone without looking up at anyone. Well, that doesn’t go down well. Everybody in the room is thinking, ‘Where is Bari Weiss? How did this happen? Where have all of our managers gone?’
Scott Pelley’s own exit from the company would come shortly after this meeting. Eventually, the longtime anchor had a one-on-one meeting with Bilton and, during the conversation, he reportedly accused Weiss of “murdering” the show. News of Pelley’s firing came down that same week. CBS News subsequently shared an internal memo, in which Weiss said the goal of that Pelley meeting was to find a bit of common ground moving forward. However, Pelley later claimed that no such olive branch was extended during that talk.
In the aftermath of his firing, Pelley has spoken out against Weiss as Paramount Skydance (now Skydance) CEO David Ellison. When it comes to Weiss, Pelley specifically takes issue with her lack of prior experience in the broadcast journalism industry. The newsman is of the position that CBS is currently in need of “adult supervision.” At the same time, other former series alums have made allegations of “journalistic interference” under Weiss’ watch.
Weiss has received blowback for allegedly permitting editorial bias and, last December, her last-minute decision to drop a story about an El Salvador migrant prison raised eyebrows. She’s since denied the claims of bias and, while she’s continued to receive backlash, some CBS employees have defended her. Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil denied having witnessed bias and spoke positively about Weiss’ vision for the company. New 60 Minutes contributor Trevor Phillips – who’s also CBS’ recently hired senior global affairs correspondent – also defended Weiss’ method of operating the news outlet.
As 60 Minutes’ 59th season continues to air amid the 2026 TV schedule, the show has reportedly experienced both gains and losses when it comes to ratings. Scott Pelley has since become a Journalist-in-Residence at Columbia Journalism School in the wake of the drama. During the summit, when asked if he had watched the show, Pelley simply said, “No.”
