Josh Elliott Fired From CBS News, Escorted Out Of Building By Security


Josh Elliott was fired from CBS News on Monday morning and was reportedly escorted out of the building by security. The decision comes after Elliott made some unpredictable moves that didn’t go over well with the senior-most execs.

Page Six reports that the former Good Morning America anchor was fired from the CBS network after shocking network bosses by announcing he was leaving the live streaming news channel for a bigger role within the organization.

Josh Elliott had served as CBSN’s lead anchor for a year, and gave an emotional farewell on air last Friday. He told viewers that it was his “last day,” adding that “it has been by any measure a great stay here at CBSN.”

It was surprise to CBS News executives, who were completely unaware that Josh Elliott planned to quit the online station. A network source reportedly called it a “mess of epic proportions” and that “nobody at the top at CBS News knew that Josh was going to do that.”

Josh Elliott was fired from CBS after joining the network in 2016. He worked at NBC prior to his hiring and was at Good Morning America before that. Early on in his career, Josh hosted SportsCenter on ESPN.

According to the report, Josh Elliott met with CBS’ head of talent, Laurie Orlando, about taking on a bigger role at CBS News. After that, Josh lost his chance.

“Then Josh announced his departure without warning,” the source tells Page Six. “Executives at CBS were stunned.”

The insider dishes that Josh Elliott was summoned to a meeting with the CBS News executives.

“Josh was called to a meeting with CBS News heads including David Rhodes and fired. He was escorted out of the building by security.”

The source adds that Laurie Orlando is being blamed for the debacle, but no one has seen her. The story regarding that is another drama in itself.

Sources said to be close with Josh Elliott claim that his executive producer failed to notify higher-ups about his announcement. CBS News president David Rhodes wasn’t alerted to Elliott’s plan to announce his departure from CBSN on Friday. A lack of communication resulted in the firing of Josh from the network.

A CBS spokesperson did reveal to Deadline last week that there would be changes concerning Josh Elliott at the studio.

“Josh is going to be taking field assignments and reporting longform pieces as well. He will appear across CBS News programs, including CBSN.”

Elliott joked during his last week at CBSN that he might be back next Monday, “knowing how things work around here.”

Mediate reports that CBS issued a statement regarding Josh Elliott firing.

“CBS News and Josh Elliott are parting ways. Josh will no longer be reporting for CBS News. We are grateful for his contributions over the last year, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”

CBS didn’t specify what led to their decision over Josh being fired.

It’s unknown what the next step is for Josh Elliott since he has worked for all three of the major networks. At the time he was anchoring at Good Morning America, there were tabloid reports that he and Lara Spencer had ongoing feuds and didn’t get along well on the set. Eventually he left GMA for other anchoring opportunities.

Josh Elliott being suddenly fired from CBS News is a developing story.

[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]

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