Conservative podcaster Brandi Kruse has shared an anecdote from her time as an intern at CBS News, recalling how then-anchor Scott Pelley would sometimes instruct camera operators to 'gently zoom in on him as he removed his glasses and delivered his opening line.'
Kruse offered up the story on Wednesday, saying the incident took place in the Evening News control room during the summer of 2010. Pelley, 68, was fired from CBS News on Tuesday after 37 years with the network.
Kruse remembered on X: 'I was an intern at @CBSNews when Pelley would fill in for Katie Couric on the evening news. I watched in the control room one day as he directed them to slowly push the shot in on him as he took his glasses off. It was so fake I’ve remembered it for 15 years.'
In a Thursday piece for The Daily Wire, Kruse elaborated: 'A few of the guys in the control room exchanged knowing glances, as if to say, “What a douche.”'
Pelley went on to become the managing editor and permanent anchor of the program in 2011. He was pulled from the anchor desk in 2017 after 'complaining to management' about CBS's 'hostile work environment,' he told CNN in 2019.
Pelley made more waves during an 'all-hands' meeting at 60 Minutes' Manhattan office on Monday. He accused new Executive Producer Nick Bilton, 49, of having 'slender qualifications' and CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of 'murdering 60 Minutes,' according to reports from Puck, The Guardian, The New York Times, and Status.
Weiss, 42, was installed as CBS News' editor-in-chief in October. Bilton, a former tech columnist and filmmaker, replaced longtime executive Tanya Simon on Thursday. Neither have any broadcast experience.
The conversation between Bilton and Pelley was tense, the publications reported after obtaining a recording of the meeting. Bilton told Pelley he would not be 'intimidated,' and CBS' managing editor, Charles Forelle, said Pelley was being 'rude.'
Pelley was fired the following day after a 5pm talk with CBS brass.
Pelley previously shocked audiences with a monologue that took aim at parent company Paramount for the departure of then-executive producer Bill Owens in April of last year. Simon—the daughter of legendary 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon—was placed in the job on a temporary basis in July after Paramount's merger with Skydance. She was among several to exit the news magazine last Thursday after Weiss elected not to renew their contracts.
Then-new CEO David Ellison, after the merger, articulated a vision of CBS News reaching more people across the country. Bilton's hiring was billed as being in line with that vision, as he is knowledgeable on topics like AI. A former CBS executive told the Daily Mail this week that staffers at 60 Minutes notoriously 'don't accept outsiders.'
The Daily Mail has approached CBS News and Paramount for comment.
