Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know… and stick around for the latest drama at 60 Minutes.

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For your awards consideration, HBO Max presents THE GILDED AGE. In Season 3, ambition and scandal collide as the Russells take their place at the head of society, while the van Rhijn household is thrown into chaos. Don't miss the series Harpers Bazar called “PERFECT TELEVISION”. THE GILDED AGE is now streaming on HBO MAX.

Meanwhile, on the pods…

And now, a little more on the latest ‘60 Minutes’ imbroglio…

MEDIA

On Tuesday afternoon, Bari Weiss, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, and newly installed 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton summoned veteran correspondent Scott Pelley to a meeting on the executive floor at West 57th Street. A day earlier, Pelley had used Bilton’s first staff meeting to take his new boss to task over his “slender qualifications,” demand answers about a string of recent high-profile firings, and accuse Weiss of “murdering” the storied newsmagazine. The Tuesday sit-down didn’t go any better: After Pelley repeatedly pressed Bari on the firings, Cibrowski showed him the door.

As Dylan chronicles, what followed was a four-hour deliberation—pizza, lawyers, and David Ellison included—over not just whether to fire Pelley, but how to keep him from casting himself as a martyr. Ultimately, they chose force over diplomacy, terminating him “for cause” in a letter that promptly found its way to every corner of the media universe. But the real damage is internal: Correspondents Bill Whitaker and Lesley Stahl have yet to decide whether to follow Pelley out, which would leave 60 Minutes with a single full-time correspondent just 100 days before its season premiere. How long before David & Co. send in a seasoned television executive to back Bari up?

Click here to read Dylan’s full story.

HOLLYWOOD

The breakout weekends for Backrooms and Obsession tell us something real about the origin of Hollywood’s next generation of talent—and something more complicated about its future.

WASHINGTON

In California’s primaries, voters mostly chose pragmatism over progressivism: Tom Steyer’s class crusade fizzled, Saikat Chakrabarti got Pelosi’d, L.A. rejected its wannabe Mamdani, and Spencer Pratt—yes, Spencer Pratt—is still in the running.

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For your awards consideration, HBO Max presents IT: WELCOME TO DERRY. Based on Stephen King’s novel IT, the new drama series expands Andy Muschietti’s vision established feature films IT and IT Chapter Two. Don't miss the series Variety called “MASTERFUL”. IT: WELCOME TO DERRY is now streaming on HBO MAX.

WALL STREET

The disgraced-ish former GE executive has been on a journey of personal discovery to reinvent his legacy and perhaps make amends—even when the facts don’t fit his new narrative. But not everyone who worked with him is ready to forgive or forget.

FASHION

Now that ELC’s spring flirtation with Puig is over, investors would very much like it to get back to the long-promised turnaround. But finding buyers for its struggling brands is easier said than done. Plus, why the real narrative on the merger talks just won’t go away.

ART

Lured by the optimistic tailwinds from last fall’s Lauder auction, high-value supply came back to the art market in May, with sales totaling $2.5 billion. But the comeback may not be quite as roaring as it appears: Unimpressive hammer ratios reveal buyers’ willingness to pay, but not more than they have to.

HOLLYWOOD

Matt is joined by Kane Parsons, the 20-year-old director of Backrooms, to discuss becoming the youngest filmmaker to open a movie at number one at the box office, his experience transitioning from YouTube to the big screen, what he wants to do with his newfound success, how he uses the internet, and more. Matt finishes the show with opening weekend box office predictions for Scary Movie 6 and Masters of the Universe.

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