Fired Scott Pelley Calls Out 60 Minutes Leadership: 'Incompetence And Unprofessionalism Have Wreaked Havoc' — Read Statement

Longtime CBS News journalist Scott Pelley has released a statement following his Tuesday firing from the network's news magazine "60 Minutes." 

Pelley's firing occurred just one day after reports of a heated clash between him and recently installed "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton. Bilton, a journalist and author, was named the new executive producer of "60 Minutes" in late May. He was appointed by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, whose hiring in that role has been controversial in its own right, due to Weiss' lack of broadcast journalism experience and much-maligned relationship to President Donald Trump. 

During a meeting between Bilton and "60 Minutes" staffers this week, Pelley reportedly claimed Weiss was "murdering '60 Minutes'" and questioned Bilton's own qualifications for his new position. (Read the termination letter sent to Pelley by Bilton here.) 

In his official statement released to press, Pelley continued to call out the program's "entire senior leadership," while taking issue with the ousting of what he called "two of our best on-air correspondents." 

"Last month, '60 Minutes' lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause," he said. "Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos."

Noting that one of his stories came about 19 minutes from not making the air at all, he continued: "Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over '60 Minutes' interviews is not how this is done... incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc." 

After applauding the growth of "60 Minutes" on "every major online platform" and acknowledging "our beloved audience" that "finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories," he continued.

"At '60 Minutes,' we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon," he said. "We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to 'keep up the good fight.' Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of '60 Minutes' is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.

"I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion — a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again — a day when sanity, competence, and courage return." 

Pelley's ouster is the latest in a string of recent "60 Minutes" exits. After Anderson Cooper announced his departure in February, Weiss further overhauled the show in May via the dismissals of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich.

Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and L. Jon Wertheim currently remain as the "60 Minutes" contributors that will return for Season 59, premiering this fall.