Brian Williams to Remove Himself from “Nightly News” Broadcast for ‘Several Days’
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Photo by: Heidi Gutman/NBC(NEW YORK) — Brian Williams will not host Nightly News for “several days” while he and NBC work to deal with questions regarding a story Williams has told about his experience reporting in Iraq during the Iraq War.
In recent days, Williams has come under fire after a story he told about a helicopter he was on being struck and going down. The story was later questioned on Facebook by a soldier who said he was actually on board the chopper that was struck. Williams apologized for what he called a “mistake.”
“On this broadcast last week,” Williams said on Wednesday, in an effort to honor and thank a veteran who protected me and so many others after a ground-fire incident in the desert during the Iraq War invasion, I made a mistake recalling the events of 12 years ago.” He clarified that in contrast to the story he told of being in an aircraft struck by RPG fire, he was actually in a following aircraft at the time of the incident.
“This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran, and by extension, our brave military men and women, veterans everywhere, those who have served while I did not,” Williams concluded. “I hope they know they have my greatest respect, and also now my apology.”
On Saturday, NBC released a “personal note from Brian Williams,” in which the anchor said that he would remove himself from the daily broadcast for “the next several days.” The note mentioned that Lester Holt would take his place in the interim. Williams said that as managing editor of the show, he made the decision.
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