Former 60 Minutes correspondent on CBS, Scott Pelley, has said he was surprised by his termination, adding that it  was the “furthest thing” from his mind when he was summoned to a meeting with the network executives days after clashing with the newly appointed executive producer, Nick Bilton.

Mr Pelley had asked Mr Bilton on his first day at work why he accepted the producer job “knowing that you will never be welcome here” in the presence of other employees who were grappling with the job cuts that impacted a third of CBS staff.

Before that day, Mr Pelley had rebuffed the CBS attempts to acquaint him with the incoming executive producer 

On why he didn’t express his reservations in a private setting, Mr Pelley said he viewed his colleagues, some of whom he had worked with for decades, as family.

Speaking to The New York Times, the journalist justified his actions, explaining that the outburst was “behind closed doors” after likening other employees to his family.

“I was with my family in a closed room. None of this was meant to be public,” he said.

Mr Pelley said he had become anxious and angry to learn that some of his colleagues had been fired and that staff retained would work under Mr Bilton who lacked any broadcast television work experience.

He demanded an explanation for his colleagues’ ouster and questioned Mr Bilton’s qualifications for the job.

Having spent 37 years at CBS, Mr Pelley said he felt terribly wronged by the ouster of former executive producer Tanya Simon, under whom the CBS franchise ratings soared with views reaching 2.5 billion, describing it as “a third of humanity.”

According to Mr Pelley’s account, he and other colleagues were waiting for Bari Weiss at the office to explain the reason for the dismissals when Mr Bilton brought out his mobile phone to read a note.

After tonguelashing Mr Bilton, Mr Pelley said that he did not suspect his termination was imminent even after getting a note from the CBS president Tom Cibrowsky.

He pledged one hour of his calendar to speak with the TV president but the conversation barely lasted 10 minutes.

“Oh gosh, furthest thing from my mind. It hadn’t occurred to me. The president of CBS News, Tom Cibrowski, sent me a note and said, can you come by and talk to us? And I said, absolutely. I scheduled about an hour on my calendar for the meeting. I didn’t know who was going to be there,” said Mr Pelley.

Mr Pelley said Mr Cibrowski accused him of physically abusing Mr Bilton, a claim he immediately and vehemently denied. 

He said the CBS president stated he would soon be notified of the management’s decision, which came in his email four hours later. 

The email was his termination from CBS where he had worked for the last 37 years.

Mr Pelley alongside other CBS staffers further accused Ms Weiss of editorial interference and bias.

However, both the CBS and Ms Weiss had denied the claims.