CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has effectively made the decision to stand by wellness influencer Peter Attia despite his chummy emails with Jeffrey Epstein — though she has chosen to stay silent on the matter in the face of growing backlash, according to a report.
The Tiffany Network’s news division has so far declined to issue any public statement to viewers — nor has it chosen to communicate anything to staffers about Attia’s future, according to the Status newsletter.
Weiss, the former New York Times opinion editor who left the Gray Lady due to what she described as its rampant “self-censorship”, is reportedly keen on retaining Attia so as not to be seen as giving in to the “mob” which is demanding his dismissal.
Attia posted a lengthy apology on his social media page earlier this week after the Justice Department released a large cache of emails related to its investigation of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Several of the emails include exchanges between Epstein and Attia, which include crude references to the female anatomy.
The revealed correspondences between the two men have sparked outrage in the halls of CBS News, where staffers are said to be demanding Attia’s firing.
Several staffers at CBS News and Paramount were said to be appalled by the tone of the emails, which included Attia joking in one 2016 exchange that “p—y is, indeed, low carb,” and writing in another that he went into Epstein “withdrawal when I don’t see him,” according to Status.
Attia apologized Monday, calling some of the messages “embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible.” Still, the controversy has continued to roil the network.
The Post reported earlier this week that while human resources officials at CBS News and parent company Paramount Skydance favor axing Attia, Weiss is intent on keeping him around.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has given Weiss the final say over what to do with Attia, the Status newsletter reported earlier this week.
After the Attia-Epstein emails surfaced, CBS News’s top-rated “60 Minutes” decided to cancel the re-airing of an interview with Attia that was conducted by Norah O’Donnell this past October.
According to the Status newsletter, the decision to pull the interview, which was scheduled to re-air opposite the Super Bowl this Sunday night, was made by “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon — not Weiss.
The fact that it was Simon who made the call to shelve the Attia segment is another sign that Weiss has so far declined to take any visible public action on the issue.
The Post has sought comment from Attia, CBS News and Paramount Skydance.
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