CBS News’ new MAGA-coded boss is set to lose one of her network’s biggest stars.
Anderson Cooper has passed on a contract renewal offer from CBS and will leave 60 Minutes ahead of its fall season, sources familiar with the matter have told Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright.
Cartwright writes, “Breaker has learned Cooper told CBS weeks ago that he wanted to concentrate on CNN, where he hosts AC360 weeknights, as well as spend more time with his family.” The 58-year-old host also has a podcast, All There Is With Anderson Cooper.
It is unclear if CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss’ recent takeover played a factor in Anderson’s decision. He has been on 60 Minutes since the 2006–2007 television season.
Breaker reports that Anderson will appear on 60 Minutes segments through the end of the current season, but not beyond.
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to The Wrap, Cooper said: “Being a correspondent at 60 Minutes has been one of the great honors of my career. 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.”
Controversy has engulfed Weiss and 60 Minutes since her takeover. The most high-profile incident came when The Free Press founder spiked a report about CECOT—the hellish El Salvador prison the Trump administration flew migrants to without due process—in December.
Weiss, 41, suggested the following month that she regretted spiking the story by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi after it had already been promoted by CBS.
Also in January, Status reported that a report by Cooper that explored President Donald Trump’s decision to accept refugees from South Africa had been “subjected to an intense level of editorial scrutiny.” Sources told the site that veteran 60 Minutes producer Michael Gavshon was “exasperated” by the edits, which were described as being “abnormal.”
Cooper earned multiple awards for his work on 60 Minutes, including five Emmys. The most recent came in 2020, when he won the “Outstanding Arts, Culture or Entertainment Report” award for a piece that profiled the artist Mark Bradford.
