Anderson Cooper Appears to Make Subtle Dig at CBS Boss Bari Weiss in Final '60 Minutes' Goodbye Message — Amid Major Network Shake-Ups
Anderson Cooper said a final farewell to '60' minutes on May 17.
May 18 2026, Published 2:57 p.m. ET
Anderson Cooper appeared to make a subtle dig at "anti-woke" CBS boss Bari Weiss and her flurry of changes at the network as he gave an emotional farewell to 60 Minutes, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
On Sunday, May 17, Cooper spoke on his nearly 20 years as a correspondent before he warned against straying away from what has made the show great over the decades.
The 'Independence' of '60 Minutes' Has Been 'Critical'
Anderson Cooper said the 'independence' of '60 Minutes' was important for its success.
"There’s very few things that have been around for as long as 60 Minutes has and maintain the quality that it has," he said in the "Overtime" segment shared on YouTube.
While Cooper admitted things always "evolve and change," he expressed his desires that "the core of what 60 Minutes is always remains.”
"I think the independence of 60 Minutes has been critical," Cooper added pointedly. "I think also the variety of stories … and I think the trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of 60 Minutes."
Anderson Cooper Wants to Spend Time With His Family
Anderson Cooper joined '60 Minutes' in the 2006-2007 season.
Cooper also reflected on how his family responsibilities altered the course of his career.
"My vacation time at CNN has been working on 60 Minutes pieces and I've loved it. But it's been tough. I always imagined like, 'OK, when I don't want to be in the daily-news grind, I'd love to just tell 60 Minutes stories,' but when I had kids, the reality of having kids is different than anything you can kind of imagine," he explained, referring to his two kids, Wyatt, 6, and Sebastian, 4, who he shares with his former partner, Benjamin Maisani.
" I want to spend as much time with them as I can while they still want to spend time with me. And those days, that clock is ticking, I think," he explained.
"I don't think the reality has really hit me that I'm not gonna be doing this any longer," continued Cooper, who joined 60 Minutes during the 2006-2007 season. "To give up something that you've watched since you were a kid, yeah, I will miss this."
Whirlwind Weiss at CBS
Bari Weiss reportedly has plans to make major changes to '60 Minutes.'
As Radar previously reported, Cooper's exit from the show comes amid a whirlwind of changes at CBS News following the hiring of Weiss as the new editor-in-chief.
Since she arrived, she's already made sweeping updates to staffing, programming schedules and more. According to a source, she also has serious plans for 60 Minutes, but "no one" who is there now "knows what to expect."
One person claimed she wanted to "blow it up as soon as the season is over."
Potential 'MAGA Shake-Up'
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Bari Weiss may be considering a 'MAGA shake-up' at '60 Minutes'.
Another insider said she was considering a "MAGA shake-up" as a way to overhaul the long-running news program.
"A lot of journalists inside the building believe the show is being softened and repositioned to appeal to a more conservative audience, with personalities and story choices that are far less confrontational toward MAGA politics than they would have been a few years ago," noted the insider. "Among staff, people are openly describing it as a MAGA-style rebrand of one of television news' most respected institutions."
