By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-05 20:36:17 | Updated at 2026-06-06 05:34:33
9 hours ago
Longtime CBS host Katie Couric has admitted that her former 60 Minutes costar Scott Pelley may have overplayed his hand in the buildup to his firing this week.
Couric, 69, broached the close-to-home topic on Thursday's edition of her web show. 'I am really astounded by the mess that has been created at 60 Minutes,' she began, acknowledging recent changes at the show and its new management.
She went on to address how those changes set Pelley off during a Monday meeting with the show's next executive producer.
Couric viewed Pelley's comments as tantamount to a 'tirade' and 'impolitic.'
'I think that's also a massive understatement,' she told guest Oliver Darcy. Pelley was fired a day after the contents of his outburst were leaked to the press within hours.
'I don't think that [CBS News Editor-in-Chief] Bari Weiss had any choice but to let Scott Pelley go,' Couric - a 60 Minutes correspondent from 2006 until 2011 - reacted.
'I mean, I think it's a classic definition of insubordination.'
The former CBS Evening News host added that it was not that she disagreed with Pelley, 68, as she admired the fact 'that he stood up for his principles.'
Longtime CBS Star Katie Couric said Thursday after telling guest Oliver Darcy she thought Scott Pelley's actions this week were overly emotional and perhaps ill-thought-out
Couric was replaced by Pelley at CBS Evening News back in 2011, after six years as the show's anchor. Pelley was pulled from the position himself in 2017 after a different blowup with CBS
'I just think perhaps the way that he did it, and the way he expressed himself, might have been handled differently,' Couric said.
'I think that Scott was really, really angry first and foremost about that,' Couric told Darcy. 'Which I totally understand and relate to.'
She said Pelley was right to be irate over firings that hit 60 Minutes' Manhattan headquarters on May 28. The show's two top producers, Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi were among those shown the door.
Pelley went on to accuse an absent Weiss of 'murdering' 60 Minutes during the Monday meeting, and a newly-hired Nick Bilton, 49, of having 'slender qualifications' for the executive producer role.
Darcy agreed that Pelley likely knew what was in store for him after his comments.
Weiss was brought in by a then-new Paramount CEO David Ellison back in October and Bilton - a filmmaker and former tech columnist - was brought in as part of the changes seen on May 28.
Pelley issued not one but two statements following his clash with Bilton, the first after CBS announced his firing Tuesday. The second came after Weiss's explanation to staff about what led to Pelley's firing during a Wednesday conference call.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was accused of 'murdering' the show by Pelley despite not being present. She has implemented a host of changes at the network and show since assuming her position in October
New exec Nick Bilton, 49, was brought in by Weiss to help oversee an increasingly new-look 60 Minutes on the same day that correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega were forced out
The two essentially traded jabs and undermined each other's version of events leading to Pelley's dismissal.
Weiss told staffers: 'Despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways.
'We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose.'
She also said that she was 'only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect,' and that Pelley had 'broken' that cardinal rule.
Correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim all announced their decision to stay with the show Friday.
The Daily Mail has approached CBS News for comment.
Couric was replaced by Pelley at CBS Evening News back in 2011 after six years behind the anchor desk.
At the time, Couric was the highest-paid journalist in the world. She also doubled as 60 Minutes correspondent.
Pelley was pulled from Evening News in 2017, for 'complaining to management' about CBS's 'hostile work environment,' he told CNN in 2019. Pelley worked at CBS for 37 years.
