'It Pains Me:' Fired '60 Minutes' Star Admits It 'Hurts' to See Iconic Show's 'Ratings Slump' After Bari Weiss Takeover

Ousted 60 Minutes host Cecilia Vega said it "hurts" to see the iconic news program's ratings decline over the last season, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

During a speech at American University, Vega expressed her frustration over the show's current trajectory.

"It pains me. It hurts to watch, from afar. It hurts to talk to my colleagues who are still there. It hurts to see the ratings slump that is happening right now… I still don’t know why the overhaul, and it’s hard to watch," she said.

The journalist added she didn't know what the "endgame" was for CBS and 60 Minutes – the program she still doesn't understand why she was ousted from.

"I was not given a reason. I was fired without cause. I just find it exceptionally disturbing," Vega told the students.

Since Bari Weiss became editor-in-chief at CBS, where 60 Minutes airs, the show has suffered a sharp decline in viewership and ratings.

The first season the program aired under Weiss' direction got off to a rough start this year. Its first episode received 7.9 million viewers, the show's lowest premiere audience since 2000.

Prior to the premiere, various changes were made by Weiss.

Tanya Simon, a CBS executive producer for 30 years – and 60 Minutes for one – was replaced by Nick Bilton. He has worked as a documentary producer, journalist, and filmmaker, but not in broadcast media.

Weiss also hired Ross Douthat, a conservative New York Times opinion writer, as a correspondent.

Additionally, Vega, who hosted 60 Minutes from October 2022 to May 2026, was fired nearly a year before her contract ended.

"In recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions," she wrote on Instagram at the time.

"Let's call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven. It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy. I held the line and refused to incorporate suggestions that offend the conscience, a phrase I borrow from a colleague who has also fought to keep questionable editorial suggestions away from the facts," Vega wrote.

The reporter detailed how she's been told by many 60 Minutes staff and correspondents they've had to fight for "editorial independence with regularity."

The same month Vega was fired, 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi's contract wasn't renewed.

The ousting reportedly came after Alfonsi clashed with Weiss for postponing her segment "Inside CECOT," which took viewers inside a detention center that Venezuelan men deported by Trump were sent to.

Scott Pelley spoke out against these firings, prompting him to be terminated as well. He had been a correspondent on 60 Minutes for decades.

"For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them," Pelley wrote in a statement. "The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."

As the current season progresses, viewership numbers continue to drop. The fourth episode saw a 12 percent dip in viewers.

Per Variety, its sixth episode only attracted 5.64 million viewers, another record low "overall" since 2000.