CBS Has Denied Reports That Joe Rogan Is Replacing Anderson Cooper on '60 Minutes'

There have definitely been a lot of shakeups at 60 Minutes since Bari Weiss was put in charge of CBS News. The highly respected news magazine has lost much of its staff and also has a new executive producer. Given how much of its staff the program has shed, though, there's been some speculation about who Weiss and co. might choose to replace those correspondents with.

Anderson Cooper, one of the high-profile correspondents who left the network, now has a rumored replacement: podcaster Joe Rogan. Following rumors that the hugely popular podcaster would join 60 Minutes, many want to know whether those rumors are true. Here's what we know.

The gossip outlet RadarOnline was the first to publish a story suggesting that CBS was considering bringing one of the most successful podcasters in the world into its orbit.

CBS, though, has denied that Rogan will be joining the network. CBS News spokesperson Jeremy Adler told Forbes that the rumors are "false," so it seems like this might have been online speculation about the direction Weiss wants to take the program in that got out of hand.

Rogan's popularity could make him a huge draw for CBS, but it's unclear why the hugely successful podcaster would join CBS News. The podcast he hosts requires much less effort than CBS News correspondents put into their reporting, and he's also his own boss, which probably doesn't hurt.

Rogan might be appealing for CBS, but it's unclear why CBS would appeal to Rogan.

The rumors that Rogan would be joining 60 Minutes came just days after veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley was fired after confronting Nick Bilton, the show's new executive producer, over the firing of other members of the 60 Minutes crew and over interference with how the show operates.

Pelley said that Bilton had been "brought in to kill" the program, and was later fired.

After his firing, Weiss claimed that they had tried to reconcile with Pelley to prevent him from being let go, saying that this was "the path he chose."

In a response, Pelley said that Weiss had lied when she said that during a CBS News meeting, saying that his meeting with CBS leadership was "openly hostile from the start."

“At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution,” he added. 60 Minutes has long been seen as one of the premier TV journalism outlets, which is part of the reason these changes have brought so much attention with them.

Now that the show's staff has been effectively cut in half, it's unclear whether Weiss or Bilton have plans to staff the show back up to its previous levels or not. Pelley seemed to believe their ultimate goal was to get the show taken off the air, but it remains to be seen whether it actually will.