CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss reportedly has final say over Peter Attia’s future at the Tiffany Network as “60 Minutes” plans to shelve a planned re-run of an interview with the Jeffrey Epstein-linked longevity influencer this coming Sunday.
Paramount Skydance, the newly created conglomerate run by CEO David Ellison, is “deferring” to Weiss over the question of whether to fire Attia just days after the network brought him on as a contributor, the Status newsletter reported, adding that the decision “rests with her.”
The Post reported earlier this week that Weiss has been reluctant to can Attia for fear that it would be seen as capitulating to the “mob” that is demanding his ouster in the wake of newly surfaced emails revealing crude banter with the late convicted pedophile Epstein.
Weiss’s position is said to put her at odds with senior human resources officials at Paramount Skydance and CBS News who recommend cutting ties with Attia, according to reports.
Attia, the bestselling author and media personality who has apologized for the emails, stepped down from his role at chief science officer at David, the food company that manufactures wellness and health products, according to the head of the firm.
Meanwhile, “60 Minutes,” the long-running television newsmagazine, has reportedly cancelled plans to re-air an interview with Attia that was conducted late last year by Norah O’Donnell.
CBS News was set to rebroadcast O’Donnell’s sit-down with Attia this coming Sunday, when the show will air at the same time as the Super Bowl, which is television’s most watched event of the year.
But the network has decided to pull the plug on the rebroadcast, according to the Guardian.
The Attia controversy centers on a series of newly surfaced emails showing unusually friendly — and at times crude — correspondence with convicted sex offender Epstein years after Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.
The messages, released as part of a Justice Department document dump, include Attia joking in one 2016 exchange that “P—y is, indeed, low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though,” and writing in another that “the life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.”
Attia sought to contain the fallout with a lengthy apology on X, insisting he had no involvement in Epstein’s crimes while acknowledging that some of his communications were indefensible.
“I was not involved in any criminal activity,” he wrote, adding that his interactions “had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone.”
He stressed: “I was never on his plane, never on his island, and never present at any sex parties,” but said he regretted allowing himself to be drawn into such exchanges.
The Post has sought comment from Attia, CBS News and Paramount Skydance.
