Stephen Colbert’s daughter has resigned from “60 Minutes,” becoming the latest behind-the-scenes producer to leave the venerable newsmagazine as it grapples with a talent exodus, a reportedly unaired Jeffrey Epstein investigation and mounting scrutiny of its future ownership.
Madeleine Carlisle, a well-regarded associate producer who joined “60 Minutes” after reporting stints at Time and The Atlantic, resigned from the broadcast in recent days, according to Status.
The exit creates an awkward family bookend for CBS.
Carlisle left just months after the network pulled the plug on her father’s top-rated “Late Show,” ending Stephen Colbert’s 11-season run on May 21 after CBS called the cancellation a “purely financial decision.”
CBS and Carlisle both declined to comment on her departure.
Carlisle’s exit comes as multiple producers have left the program since the May defenestrations of veterans on the team, according to Status. The ouster of journos including correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, along with executive producer Tanya Simon and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, has since been come to be called “Black Thursday” by remaining staffers.
Additional departures are potentially looming as “60 Minutes” prepares to return next month under the leadership of Bari Weiss and executive producer Nick Bilton, Status reported.
The latest personnel shakeup coincides with fresh questions surrounding an Epstein investigation that never made it to air.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) says he sat for an interview with Alfonsi in March as part of a planned segment examining the relationship between big banks and the late financier and sex offender.
Neither Wyden’s interview nor the broader Epstein story was ultimately broadcast before the season concluded in May, the senator said.
CBS confirmed to The Post that Alfonsi interviewed Wyden for a potential segment but said the full story did not come together for airing during the latest “60 Minutes” season.
The network pushed back forcefully against any suggestion the reporting had been shelved for editorial or political reasons.
“We are proud of our aggressive and extensive reporting on the Epstein scandal. That reporting continues. We air pieces when they are ready and suggesting that an interview is being ‘suppressed’ for any reason is categorically false,” a CBS News spokesperson said.
Alfonsi’s departure was part of a broader purge of marquee talent at “60 Minutes.”
CBS declined to renew the veteran correspondent’s contract after she publicly accused management of political interference in delaying her report on Venezuelan migrants held in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, while fellow correspondent Vega was also let go and longtime executive producer Simon was replaced by outsider Bilton.
Weeks later, CBS fired Scott Pelley after the 37-year network veteran confronted management over the overhaul, while Anderson Cooper separately ended his nearly two-decade run as a part-time correspondent in February, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
The developments come as Paramount’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery continues to face an antitrust challenge from a coalition of state attorneys general, with CNN increasingly becoming the public focus of the political fight.
On Tuesday, TKO Group executive chairman Ari Emanuel endorsed the idea of creating an editorial board to oversee CNN in an effort to ease concerns over future media ownership if the merger proceeds.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Emanuel said the litigation challenging the deal is “a little bit about politics, about CNN,” and suggested “an editorial board” could be established over the news organization to make sure “everybody’s calm about news and possibly Larry Ellison controlling CNN and CBS.”
Emanuel’s remarks came after Paramount chief executive David Ellison argued in a New York Times opinion essay that CNN has become the real flashpoint in the merger litigation and pledged the combined company would play news coverage “down the middle.”
Emanuel echoed Ellison’s public defense of the transaction while proposing an outside editorial structure intended to blunt concerns about the Ellison family’s influence over major news organizations.
Whether the proposal gains traction remains unclear.
A federal judge is expected to decide whether the states’ challenge proceeds to trial later this year or slips into 2027.
