CBS News’ anti-woke warrior editor-in-chief isn’t putting up much of a fight when it comes to her newest “star” contributor, who has deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Bari Weiss bowed to outrage when CBS News’ flagship show 60 Minutes quietly shelved plans to re-air an episode Sunday featuring her latest “star” hire, Peter Attia, following revelations that he was named nearly 2,000 times in the latest tranche of Epstein files.
“CBS has shelved plans to re-air Norah O’Donnell’s October 2025 ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Peter Attia, which was slated to run this Sunday as part of a re-run episode of ‘60 Minutes’ (since it’s up against the Super Bowl),” Guardian reporter Jeremy Barr wrote on X.
The quiet pullback came after reports of an internal standoff at CBS, with Weiss positioned against much of the newsroom over Attia’s hiring. While she has yet to comment publicly, network insiders say Weiss has rallied behind Attia, a self-styled “longevity expert,” and believes ousting him would be “giving in to the mob.”
Yet just hours after her behind-the-scenes defense of Attia became public, CBS appeared to do exactly that.
The reversal marked a notable departure for Weiss, who has built her brand on defying outrage culture. The anti-woke Substacker has fashioned herself as a fighter against “the mob” after theatrically resigning from The New York Times in July 2020 and publishing a widely circulated open letter accusing colleagues of “bullying” her over her anti-cancel culture views.
“It is our duty to resist the crowd in this age of mob thinking. It is our duty to speak truth in an age of lies,” she wrote in an essay penned for Deseret Magazine in 2021, one of many such interventions. “It is our duty to think freely in an age of conformity.”
Attia’s free thinking included telling Epstein that “p—y” was low carb, and that the financier’s lifestyle was so “outrageous” that he could not tell other people about it.
While Weiss may have bowed to the “mob” in an immediate sense, the Columbia University graduate is still backing Attia’s bid to remain at the network.
New York Post and Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino, who is well-connected to the MAGA-curious Weiss, said Weiss “hates cancel culture and doesn’t want to cut [Attia] lose from his contributor’s gig” on Tuesday.
“But there is a counter-argument being discussed about the optics of a guy dispensing medical advice, who had some weird exchanges with Epstein after he plead to the first charge of sex with a minor,” Gasparino wrote on X.
What’s more, records released by the DOJ also revealed that Attia, a so-called “medical expert” for the network, chose to meet with Epstein in New York in 2017 while ignoring pleas from his wife to come to the hospital where their infant son was being treated.
Weiss’ fight to save Attia also puts her at odds with billionaire Skydance owner David Ellison’s corporate advisors for the first time. Ellison—who is backed by his father, Oracle founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison—acquired Weiss’ anti-woke Substack for $150 million last October. Weiss was later installed as CBS News editor-in-chief, a move widely viewed as an attempt to placate Donald Trump. Last year, she greeted the president with a kiss.
Weiss may be hesitant to take a stand against her new hire, but not everyone is. David’s Protein founder Peter Rahal wrote on X Monday that Attia, a major investor, has stepped down from his role as chief science officer of the company.
“Dr. Peter Attia has stepped down from his role as Chief Science Officer at David,” he wrote in a post viewed over 500,000 times at publication. “We remain focused on serving our customers.”
For his part, Attia issued a lengthy statement Monday offering justifications, explanations, but little apology, for his relationship with Epstein. He described being awed by Epstein’s elite social connections, his private plane, and his ownership of “the largest home in all of Manhattan,” saying the financier’s lavish lifestyle ultimately led him to overlook Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution—charges Attia said Epstein downplayed at the time as “prostitution-related charges.”
Critics have described Attia as a “wellness grifter,” likening him to a snake-oil salesman-turned-podcaster who offers longevity advice through a $2,500 subscription service despite having only limited formal medical training.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Attia and CBS multiple times for comment.
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