Scott Pelley Compares Being Fired To His Spouse Being Murdered

Scott Pelley is opening up about his dramatic exit from CBS News ... and he’s not holding back on the emotion, comparing his firing from "60 Minutes" to his spouse being murdered.

In a new interview with The New York Times, the longtime news veteran became visibly emotional while discussing how he is feeling after being axed from the network last week -- saying at an emotional level, "it's like your spouse was murdered."

The news of Pelley's termination followed a sweep of lay-offs, which he refers to the internal shake-up as a "Black Thursday" moment ... saying the sudden departures of longtime colleagues -- many of whom he’s worked alongside for decades -- left him devastated.

The former "60 Minutes" anchor emphasized just how close the newsroom team had become over the years, describing colleagues who traveled, worked, and reported together in high-pressure environments for decades.

At one point, Pelley said the experience felt like losing "family," underscoring the emotional toll the layoffs took on the tight-knit production team.

He also admitted his earlier frustration during an internal meeting was fueled by the scale and speed of the changes, acknowledging that his reaction was highly emotional in the moment ... however denies Tom Cibrowski's claims that he physically abused Nick Bilton.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us ... Mr. Cibrowski acknowledged in the meeting that he misspoke when he said "physically" and immediately withdrew that comment.

Despite his own departure from CBS, Pelley said he’s not focused on losing his job -- but rather on the longtime colleagues he says were abruptly let go.

At one point, Pelley claimed that editor Bari Weiss pushed for changes that aligned more closely with what he described as a pro-Trump narrative, saying he believed the newsroom was being steered in a specific political direction.

In another portion of the conversation, Pelley alleged he witnessed what he called unprecedented influence on major stories, describing it as a “thumb on the scale” situation during editorial discussions.

He further claimed Weiss appeared to be “looking out for the views of the president,” suggesting that newsroom balance had been disrupted during key editorial decisions.

CBS News Spokesperson tells TMZ … “In an email, Bari made four points in the course of editorial back-and-forth. They had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible. As is frequently the case in any newsroom that operates with collaboration, not everything she raised made it into the final piece.”