EXCLUSIVE: Clock Rocked! Open Revolt Erupts After '60 Minutes' is Dismantled by New Management
'60 Minutes' faces internal revolt after new management dismantled key parts of the show.
June 27 2026, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
The shocking bloodbath at 60 Minutes has the venerable newsmagazine's famous faces crying foul and fearing for the future of the show, Breaking Celebrity News can reveal.
Controversial and often-criticized CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss gutted the staff on what is now being referred to as "Black Thursday" by not renewing the contract of correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, and firing fellow correspondent Cecilia Vega, highly praised executive producer Tanya Simon, Simon's deputy Draggan Mihailovich, and segment producers Guy Campanile and Matthew Polevoy.
CBS Bloodbath Claims More Victims
Lesley Stahl called the mass firings at '60 Minutes' the worst experience she has been involved in after Guy Campanile was dismissed.
Campanile was on his way to the airport to join longtime correspondent Lesley Stahl for an overseas assignment when he got word he was out of work.
"They fired everybody who was around Tanya. We don't know why. He doesn't know why. He has no idea why he was fired," Stahl later said, calling the bloodbath "by far the worst experience I've been involved in. And I have no idea why he was fired."
The carnage led to another firing when correspondent Scott Pelley confronted incoming executive producer Nick Bilton – a tech writer with no TV news experience – at a staff meeting.
Pelley mocked Bilton's credentials, rejected his authority and said he would "never be welcome" after declaring that Weiss was "murdering the show."
Pelley was called to a meeting the next day, where he too got the sack.
Pelley Slams Network Leadership
Scott Pelley claimed Bari Weiss influenced stories before Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega lost their jobs in the shake-up.
"We have people who have been installed in these jobs who, through no fault of their own, have no experience in television," Pelley later said. "It's not their fault, but they don't know what they're doing."
Pelley claimed Weiss had tried to influence stories, a complaint that was echoed by both Alfonsi and Vega before they lost their jobs in the purge.
Now the axed newsman is reportedly lawyering up while he contemplates his next move.
Meanwhile, Stahl revealed that Paramount CEO David Ellison pledged in a June 7 call that 60 Minutes would have editorial independence.
Remaining Stars Blast Management
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Bill Whitaker, Jon Wertheim and Stahl said their decision to stay at '60 Minutes' should not be seen as an endorsement of current management.
The three remaining correspondents, Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim, announced they would remain, but blasted management for treating the fired staff "so shabbily, with such indecency."
But they added their decision should not be "construed as an endorsement of the existing power structure," adding, "We don't want to see 60 Minutes die."
Simon, who Pelley claimed had increased the show's audience by 9 percent in her first year, was reportedly blindsided by her dismissal, before being told to vacate her office by 5 p.m. the same day.
"Get out of the office by five o'clock," asked Pelley. "What company in the world treats their precious people that way?"
