In a stunning development, veteran CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley has been fired by the network after clashing with the show’s new executive producer, Nick Bilton, in a fiery meeting with the show’s staff Monday.

Bilton informed Pelley of his termination Tuesday evening. Pelley has been at CBS News for decades, and previously served as the anchor of the CBS Evening News.

In the meeting on June 1 with new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton, Pelley said that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is “murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place; she was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”

He also said that Bilton, a veteran technology journalist who previously worked at The New York Times and Vanity Fair, had “slender” qualifications for what is arguably the most important EP job in television news.

“You should hear this from me first. We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” Bilton wrote in a note to 60 Minutes staff Tuesday. “I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.”

Weiss hired Bilton in a massive overhaul of the program last month, parting ways with EP Tanya Simon and some of her lieutenants, as well as correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi. Anderson Cooper made the decision to leave the program after this season.

With Pelley’s exit, the show is down to three correspondents: Lesley Stahl, 84; Bill Whitaker, 74; and Jon Wertheim, 55.

Scott Pelley Fired From ‘60 Minutes’ After Ripping New Leadership in Tense Meeting | The veteran correspondent and former 'CBS Evening News' anchor called out Bari Weiss, stating she is “murdering 60 Minutes. She does not love this place; she was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”