CBS News fires '60 Minutes' blowhard Scott Pelley after he dumps on Bari Weiss

Scott Pelley, a 68-year-old liberal who claimed in a commencement speech last year that "you only lose if you quit," has been a fixture at CBS News since 1989.

Although he was ousted as the anchor of "CBS Evening News" in 2017 — allegedly because he complained "to management about the hostile work environment," though his ratings also stank — Pelley clung to another position at the network, working for nearly a decade as a correspondent on "60 Minutes."

CBS News kicked Pelley to the curb for good on Tuesday — a day after the talking head reportedly volunteered a number of criticisms of the network's choices and personnel.

'I have been in combat.'

At a Monday staff meeting in Manhattan, Pelley hammered Nick Bilton, a newly hired executive producer on "60 Minutes," for his "slender" qualifications and characterized Bari Weiss, the blogger turned CBS News editor in chief, of being a hatchet man who is "murdering" the show and lacks a love for "this place," reported the New York Times.

Bilton, an English-born filmmaker and former tech columnist who apparently has no broadcast news experience, announced on Tuesday, "We have parted ways with Scott Pelley."

The purportedly slenderly qualified producer said in a missive to Pelley obtained by the Times,

I started this job excited to collaborate and to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the 60 Minutes veterans, with you among them. 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 claimed that while he supposedly welcomes "a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate," Pelley's "performative display of hostility" demonstrated that he has "no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress."

RELATED: Polarization may be the cure — and the clarity — America needs

Bari Weiss. Noam Galai/Getty Images

After emphasizing that Pelley's "antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear," Bilton told the liberal that his employment was "terminated for cause effective immediately."

Pelley, who complained in a woke speech last year that "journalism is under attack," wasted no time reminding everyone of his bravery and "devotion" to journalism.

"I have been in combat in Afghanistan," he told the Times in a phone interview after his termination, referring to his time as a war reporter while other men actually engaged in combat operations. "I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast."

Pelley claimed that Bilton's letter "betrays a complete misunderstanding of what we work for and what we live for at '60 Minutes.'"

Earlier in the day, the ex-CBS News correspondent stated that the "incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc" at CBS News, adding that the "collapse of values at the top has become untenable."

Pelley claimed further in another statement that the new owner of the network — Paramount Skydance — was casting aside the "legend" of "60 Minutes" in an effort to "curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration." He claimed further that new management had instructed him to "inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story."

CBS News did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

Now with Pelley out and Anderson Cooper having bailed out last month, the "60 Minutes" roster of correspondents includes Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!