Anderson Cooper was reportedly set to become the face of 60 Minutes under new leadership until he pulled out at the eleventh hour.
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski had privately lauded Cooper, 58, as an important figure at the network and were finalizing a deal with him when he decided not to renew his contract, a source familiar with the situation told the New York Post.
“They must be p---ed,” the source said of Weiss and Cibrowski. “They wanted to build the show around him.”
A source likewise told Puck that negotiations “were on the one-yard line.”
“It was total chaos,” another person close to the network added. “Everyone was caught off guard.”
Representatives for 60 Minutes and Cooper did not immediately return a request for comment.
Cooper dealt a massive blow to the already embattled CBS News when he decided to step away to focus on his job at CNN and his family, according to Breaker.
“Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honors of my career,” he later said in a statement to The Wrap. “I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business. For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they still want to spend time with me.”
A source revealed to Status that Cooper was no longer aligned with the “rightward direction” that CBS News had taken under Weiss, who was installed at the helm of the venerated news network by Trump-friendly Paramount CEO David Ellison.
“He wasn’t comfortable with the direction the show was taking under Bari, and is in a position where he doesn’t have to put up with it,” a source told the outlet.
Last month, Status reported that Weiss was stalling Cooper’s 60 Minutes segment about the Trump administration’s controversial decision to accept white refugees from South Africa. Michael Gavhson, a veteran producer, had grown “exasperated” by the “abnormal” edits, according to the outlet.
“He doesn’t like that she has inserted herself,” a CBS source told the Post. “He doesn’t want the hassle. This is the first time any of them had a boss they have to answer to.”
Cooper has won several awards for his work on 60 Minutes, including five Emmys. The most recent accolade came in 2020, when he took home the award for Outstanding Arts, Culture or Entertainment Report for a piece that profiled the artist Mark Bradford.
“60 Minutes will be here if he ever wants to return,” a CBS spokesperson told Variety.
