Nick Bilton, the executive producer of CBS News’s 60 Minutes, terminated the contract of 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley after he had a meltdown and disparaged Bilton during a meeting.
Dylan Byers, a founding partner and senior correspondent at Puck, shared a letter from Bilton to Pelley, in which Bilton criticized Pelley for having “hijacked” his first staff meeting.
“Dear Mr. Pelley,” Bilton said. “I meant what I said in my letter last week to the 60 Minutes team: joining 60 Minutes is the honor of my career and I am grateful to be working alongside the people who have contributed to the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.”
Bilton admitted that while he was “new to 60 Minutes,” he had devoted his career “to investigative journalism and storytelling.”
“I started this job excited to collaborate and to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the 60 Minutes veterans, with you among them,” Bilton continued. “For that reason, one of the first things I did in my new role was call you to talk and invite you to dinner. It is a profound disappointment that you rejected that overture and chose ambush instead. Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt.”
Bilton continued to note that despite how Pelley had acted, he had been hopeful they “could find a path forward together,” though Pelley “made clear” he was not interested.
Bilton continued to share that he was writing “on behalf of CBS News, Inc.” to inform Pelley that his employment with CBS News was “terminated for cause effective immediately.”
Breitbart News’s John Nolte reported that “CBS News chief Bari Weiss replaced 60 Minutes‘ executive producer Tanya Simon” with Bilton.
During Bilton’s meeting, “Pelley used this meeting to crystallize everything wrong with the corporate media.”