On MSNBC’s The 11th Hour Tuesday night, left-wing host Brian Williams announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the network and would be leaving in December. On Wednesday morning, the Today show hailed the disgraced former Nightly News anchor as a “legend” and skipped any mention of him being fired from his previous job due to dishonesty.
“Following much reflection and after 28 years with the company, I have decided to leave NBC upon the completion of my current contract in December,” Williams declared Tuesday night as he read from a statement released earlier in the evening. He added: “NBC is a part of me and always will be. 28 years, 38 countries, 8 Olympic games, 7 presidential elections, half a dozen presidents, a few wars, and one SNL.”
He only vaguely alluded to his being fired from Nightly News in 2015 and being demoted to the MSNBC late shift in 2016:
Good friends were in great supply at NBC. I was fortunate that everyone I worked with made me better at my job. I have had the best colleagues imaginable. That includes great bosses. I was on the air for the launch of MSNBC. My return years later was my choice, as was launching The 11th Hour that I’m as proud of as the decade I spent anchoring Nightly News.
He concluded his statement by suggesting his career may not be over: “This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another. There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere.”
At the top of the 8:00 a.m. ET hour on Wednesday’s Today show, co-host Savannah Guthrie reported the news as she hailed Williams:
Now to some news from here at 30 Rock. MSNBC host and former Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is leaving NBC after 28 years at this network. Williams made the announcement yesterday. He’s going to step down at the end of the year, spend more time with his family. And in his good-bye message, he noted that his work at this network included covering eight Olympic games, a half dozen presidents, and one SNL. And he is, of course, a legend here at NBC.
Fellow co-host Hoda Kotb agreed: “He sure is, he sure is.” Guthrie added: “We’re gonna miss him.”
Conveniently, they skipped over the massive scandal that embroiled Williams and NBC News in 2015 in which an investigation found him guilty of lying numerous times in his role as anchor.
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Here is a full transcript of Williams announcing his decision to leave NBC during the November 9 11th Hour:
11:57 PM ET
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Last thing before we go tonight, as the old song says, we got a thing going on. Think about it. We’ve been meeting this way at this same time, this same place for an awful long while. Five years, give or take. Next year is my 40th year in the business. The Earth was still cooling, in fact, when I started as a reporter. And so that got me to thinking and that led me to write something that we made public earlier tonight, and in case you missed it or demanded a dramatic reading, here it is. And it reads like this:
Following much reflection and after 28 years with the company, I have decided to leave NBC upon the completion of my current contract in December. I have been truly blessed. I have been allowed to spend almost half of my life with one company. NBC is a part of me and always will be. 28 years, 38 countries, 8 Olympic games, 7 presidential elections, half a dozen presidents, a few wars, and one SNL.
Good friends were in great supply at NBC. I was fortunate that everyone I worked with made me better at my job. I have had the best colleagues imaginable. That includes great bosses. I was on the air for the launch of MSNBC. My return years later was my choice, as was launching The 11th Hour that I’m as proud of as the decade I spent anchoring Nightly News.
I wanted it to be called The 11th Hour, as it was late in the 2016 campaign back then, and I wanted it to air at 11pm Eastern time. I ask all of those of you who are a part of our loyal viewing audience to remain loyal. The 11th Hour will remain in good hands, produced by the best team in cable news. Special thanks are due to our guests on The 11th Hour, the journalists who made our broadcast what it was. They are our stars. And in this era, stars have Pulitzers.
This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another. There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere. For the next few months I’ll be with my family, the people I love most, the people who enabled my career to happen. I will reflect on the kindness people have shown me, and I will pay it forward.
So that’s all of it, and we get to meet here in this way for a few more weeks. And the good news is you get to keep watching. As I said, The 11th Hour is way bigger than any one man or woman. The truth is our secret has always been it is always about our guests. That will never change. So we'll be talking, and come to think of it, I’ll see you back here as early as tomorrow night.
