Megyn Kelly Says Scott Pelley’s CBS Firing Was ‘Overdue’: ‘It Was the Right Call’

Megyn Kelly had plenty to say about the departure of Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes on the Wednesday, June 3 episode of her Megyn Kelly podcast.

“I don’t blame her one bit,” Kelly, 55, said of CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss firing Pelley. “It was the right call.”

Kelly argued the 68-year-old’s attitude had made him a candidate for dismissal long before now. “He is arrogant,” she said, adding that his “programming and narcissism and closed-mindedness on the air entitled him to a firing long, long ago so this is overdue.”

However, Kelly drew a sharp distinction between the firing of Pelley and the spectacle CBS made of it, blasting the network’s approach as “completely unprofessional and bush league.”

On the podcast, she showed a clip from December 2025 where she predicted that Weiss would eventually push Pelley out and that CBS insiders would “eat her alive from within.” Per the June 3 episode, she said, “It came today. He’s fired before we are halfway through 2026.”

Even so, Kelly argued that Weiss was not the right person to lead a broadcast news overhaul. “Bari Weiss knows nothing about broadcast journalism,” Kelly said. “She’s never worked in television.” The journalist added that building a successful publication like the Free Press doesn’t automatically translate to running a TV news operation. “That’s not the person to fix a television news outlet,” she said.

Kelly leveled similar criticism at new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton, saying he lacks the broadcast background necessary to earn the trust of the show’s staff. She argued CBS leadership faces a choice: “There has to be some massaging of the team of talent and producers who are there, or fire them all. Do one or the other.”

Despite her sharp criticism, Kelly said the underlying goal at CBS is sound. “The attempt to make ‘60 Minutes‘ somewhat more fair and balanced is a good thing,” she said. “It’s a noble thing.”