Veteran anchor Scott Pelley reportedly attacked new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton to his face on Monday, telling him he “would never be welcomed” at the show.

Bilton convened his first meeting with 60 Minutes staff on Monday, after being appointed to his new role by CBS editor Bari Weiss on Thursday amid a slew of firings. The “highly contentious” meeting, the New York Times and Status’ Oliver Darcy reported, did not go well.

Bilton, who began the meeting with some prepared remarks, was interrupted by Pelley, who demanded to know more detail on Thursday’s firings, which included Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, correspondent Cecilia Vega, and the show’s long time Executive Editor Draggan Mihailovich. 

“In the extraordinary back and forth, an impassioned Pelley relentlessly pressed Bilton on Weiss’ intentions for the storied newsmagazine, pointed out that he has no relevant experience to helm television’s most prestigious news program, grilled Bilton on what he knew about the firings, and more,” wrote Darcy, who cited an audio of the meeting obtained by Status.

Pelley’s onslaught was reportedly so intense, staffers speculated that he might be considering resignation. The former anchor of CBS Evening News first took aim at Weiss, claiming she had “no qualifications for her job” and countering Bilton’s claim that the new chief “loves 60 Minutes” with a sharp interjection.

“She’s murdering ’60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it—and she’s doing exactly that,” said Pelley. “She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”

As Bilton tried to move the meeting along, Pelley pressed him on “what was wrong” with the correspondents recently let go, including Sharyn Alfonsi, who was at the center of one of Weiss’ first scandals at the helm of CBS when she chose to abruptly pull a 60 Minutes segment on deportations to El Salvador’s CECOT prison last year.

“As Bilton started to say he would ‘defer,’ Pelley interrupted: ‘This is not the crowd to dodge,'” reported Darcy.

When Charles Forelle, managing editor of CBS News and Weiss ally, Pelley hit back, invoking Thursday’s firings, which he referred to as “Black Tuesday.”

“I’m not being rude,” he said. “You know what was rude? Black Thursday was rude. That was the absolute definition of rudeness.”

“This is not actually productive,” Forelle said at one point in their exchange. “This is not an interview.”

“It’s working for me,” shot back Pelley. “Anybody came into our house—this is ’60 Minutes.’ I guess you wandered in expecting to read a statement off?”

Later in the meeting, Bilton responded to another staffer’s claim that it “takes years” to train new correspondents for 60 Minutes by claiming that no new hires would lack experience. Laughter reportedly erupted at this remark. Pelley then continued to hammer Bilton, asking him bluntly why he would take the job in the first place.

“Here’s a question: Were you aware of how Black Friday was going to play out?” he asked. “I find it odd that you would take this job knowing that you would never be welcomed here.”

“I have no problem taking a job in a place that I am not welcome, OK? I don’t believe that will be the case,” said Bilton in response.

The meeting might be best summed up by one especially poignant exchange between the two.

While describing his plans for the show, Bilton claimed at one point: “I care so deeply about this institution.”

“Oh, please,” interrupted Pelley.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!