Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network in the U ...

'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ...

and

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edito ...

of the broadcast in 2004. In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months by NBC for "misrepresent ngevents which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003". Four months after the incident came to light, the network removed him from ''NBC Nightly News'' and reassigned him as the breaking news anchor for

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politic ...

. In September 2016, he became the host of MSNBC's political news show, '' The 11th Hour''. Williams announced in November 2021 that he would be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the completion of his contract the following month, when he hosted his final episode of ''The 11th Hour''.

Early life

Born on May 5, 1959, in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958, He is the son of Dorothy May (née Pampel) and Gordon Lewis Williams, who was an executive vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, in New York. His mother was an amateur stage actress. Williams is the youngest of four siblings. He lived in

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 census ...

, for nine years before moving to

Middletown Township, New Jersey Middletown Township is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township had a total population of 67,106, making it the most-populous municipality in the county and the state's 16t ...

, when he was in junior high school. Williams graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown. While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township Fire Department. Also while in high school, he was the editorial editor for the school newspaper. He suffered an accident during a football game that left him with a crooked nose. His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery. Following high school, Williams attended

Brookdale Community College Brookdale Community College is a public community college in the Lincroft section of Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1967, the college also has regional locations in Neptune Township, Fr ...

before transferring to the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U. ...

and then

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

. He did not earn a degree, ultimately interning with the administration of President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

. He later called leaving college one of his "great regrets".

Career

Early broadcast career

Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at

KOAM-TV KOAM-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Pittsburg, Kansas, United States, serving the Joplin, Missouri–Pittsburg, Kansas market as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Morgan Murphy Media, which provides certain services to d ...

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA s ...

, then worked in Philadelphia for

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...

, then owned and operated by CBS. Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at WCBS. Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national ''Weekend Nightly News'' and was chief White House correspondent. In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of '' The News with Brian Williams'', broadcast on

and

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sh ...

. Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on ''The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw'', and its weekend anchor. He reported the accident and death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Rise and ouster at ''NBC Nightly News''

Williams became anchor of ''

'' on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of ' ...

. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are "bigger problems" than newsroom diversity. NBC News President

Neal Shapiro Neal B. Shapiro (born March 9, 1958) is the President and CEO of WNET. He worked previously as the President of NBC News and the executive producer for ''Dateline NBC''. Prior to this Shapiro spent 13 years as a news producer at ABC News. Early ...

vowed to redouble the company's minority hiring efforts. He still was allowed to continue and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly "for venting his anger and frustration over the government's failure to act quickly to help the victims." The network was awarded a Peabody, the committee concluding that "Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence." Williams accepted the award on behalf of the organization. ''NBC Nightly News'' also earned the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

Kurtz, Howard. ''Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War''. New York: Free Press, 2007. Print. and the duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage. '' Vanity Fair'' called Williams' work on Katrina "Murrow-worthy" and reported that during the hurricane, he became "a nation's anchor". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' characterized Williams' reporting of the hurricane as "a defining moment". In 2007, ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2009, Williams was awarded the

Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism The Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism is an annual award presented by Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The recipient is deemed to represent a leading figure in the journalism ...

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...

. At the announcement of the award,

Cronkite Cronkite is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Walter Cronkite (1916–2009), American broadcast journalist and anchorman * Kathy Cronkite Kathy Cronkite (born September 5, 1950) is an American actress and mental health pr ...

said he was one of Williams' "ardent admirers" and described him as a "fastidious newsman" who brought credit to the television news reporting profession. Brian Williams interviews Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

Brian Williams interviews Mitt Romney, July 25, 2012

While anchoring the ''Nightly News'', Williams received 12

News & Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Scien ...

s. For "outstanding" work as anchor and managing editor of the ''Nightly News'', he received one Emmy in 2006 (for ''Nightly News'' coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina), two in 2007, one in 2009, two in 2010, one in 2011, one in 2013, and one in 2014. The 2014 Emmy was awarded ''Nightly News'' for its coverage of a deadly series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the duPont-Columbia University Award. Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program '' Rock Center'' and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighb ...

. He also shared a 2014 Emmy awarded for an NBC News Special on the

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs ...

. Based on the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, from late 2008 Williams' news broadcast consistently had more viewers than its two main rivals,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's '' World News Tonight'' and '' CBS

Evening News Evening News may refer to: Television news *''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast *'' ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast *''JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast *''Evening News'', an alternate name for '' News Hour'' in so ...

''. In fact, from late 2008 to late 2014, ''NBC Nightly News'' beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week. In February 2015, Williams was suspended for six months from the broadcast for misrepresenting his experience in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the time, his salary was $10 million a year, with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.

''Rock Center with Brian Williams''

On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of ''Rock Center with Brian Williams'', a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series ''

The Playboy Club ''The Playboy Club'' is an American historical crime drama television series that aired on NBC from September 19 to October 3, 2011. Set in 1961, the series centers on the employees (known as Bunnies) of the original Playboy Club operating in Ch ...

''. Named after the nickname of

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

, the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

landmark where

NBC Radio City Studios NBC Studios are located in the historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza (on Sixth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets) in Manhattan, New York City. The building houses the NBC television network headquarters, its parent NBCUniversal, and NBC's flagship s ...

are located, the program would become the first new

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's ...

program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades. NBC cancelled ''Rock Center'' on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings; the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013. Williams reportedly felt "insulted" by the program's cancellation.

Iraq War helicopter fabrication

Brian Williams on board USS Tarawa, March 13, 2003

On February 4, 2015, Williams apologized for and recanted his disproven

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

story, which he had told on a ''Nightly News'' broadcast on January 30, 2015. He claimed that a military

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

he was traveling in had been "forced down after being hit by an

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

". Soon after it aired, Williams' story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three Chinook helicopters that had been attacked. Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard one of a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon, which was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack. Additional soldiers soon came forward to confirm that Williams was not in the group of helicopters that had come under fire and that Williams had inserted himself into the event. In his original on-air reporting of the incident on March 26, 2003, for ''

Dateline NBC ''Dateline NBC'' is a weekly American television news magazine/reality legal show that is broadcast on NBC. It was previously the network's flagship general interest news magazine, but now focuses mainly on true crime stories with only occasio ...

'', Williams had said only that "the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky ... by an RPG" and made an emergency landing. But in introducing the piece, NBC News anchor

described Williams as having "got imelf into ... a close call in the skies over Iraq", and the story was headlined, "Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC's Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire". A book published by NBC in 2003 said that "Army Chinook helicopters ereforced to make a desert landing after being attacked by Iraqi Fedayeen", with Williams aboard. In a 2007 retelling, Williams did not state that his craft had been hit, but said, "I looked down the tube of an RPG that had been fired at us, and it hit the chopper in front of us." This contradicted the statements by the crew of the craft that was hit, that it was at least 30 minutes ahead of Williams' helicopter. However, the soldiers who piloted Williams' helicopter in Iraq said no rocket-propelled grenades had been fired at the aircraft, a fact that Williams did not dispute and apologized for. In a 2013 account, Williams said his helicopter had been "hit ... and landed very quickly". In a February 5, 2015, interview with CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and the door gunners returned fire. On February 10, 2015, NBC News President

Deborah Turness Deborah Mary Turness (born 4 March 1967) is an English journalist, former CEO of ITN, and current CEO of BBC News. Prior to this she held two positions in NBC News International where she was president of NBC News (2013–2017) and later P ...

suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the ''Nightly News'' for having misrepresented the Iraq incident. On June 18, 2015, he was demoted to breaking news anchor for

. Journalist

Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (born 3 September 1963) is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1996. He has published seven books: '' The Tipping Point: How Little ...

reexamined the story in a podcast episode entitled "Free Brian Williams" from his '' Revisionist History'' podcast. Gladwell argued that the evolving versions of Williams' story over many years matched the normal pattern of how human memory works. Over time, people conflate and combine different memories, shift times and locations, and misremember details large and small.

Return to MSNBC

In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as

's chief anchor. News events that Williams has since covered for MSNBC include Pope Francis's trip to the United States; the

Umpqua Community College shooting The Umpqua Community College shooting occurred on October 1, 2015, at the UCC campus near Roseburg, Oregon, United States. Chris Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old student who was enrolled at the school, fatally shot an assistant professor and 8 stud ...

; and terrorist attacks in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, and

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. In January 2016, Williams also added the role of chief elections anchor for MSNBC and subsequently debuted in the new role during coverage of the 2016 Iowa caucuses. As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored ''The 11th Hour with Brian Williams'' a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. The ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' labeled the program a "legit hit" in February 2019, noting the show had been "beating ompetitorsCNN and Fox News for three months straight." Williams, alongside co-anchors

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow (, ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. Maddow hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special e ...

Joy Reid Joy-Ann M. Lomena-Reid (born December 8, 1968), known professionally as Joy Reid, is an American cable television host, MSNBC national correspondent, liberal political commentator, and author. She hosted the weekly MSNBC morning show, ''AM Joy ...

and lead analyst

Nicolle Wallace Nicolle Wallace (née Devenish; born February 4, 1972) is an American television host and author. She is known for her work as the anchor of the MSNBC news and politics program '' Deadline: White House'' and a former co-host of the ABC daytime ...

, led the network's coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election. Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of ''The 11th Hour with Brian Williams'' that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks. His final night hosting the show was December 9, 2021.

Other activities

Williams frequently appeared on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

'' as a celebrity guest interviewed by

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted '' The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' ...

and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new ''Daily Show'' set. He appeared on the ''

Weekend Update ''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' Sketch comedy, sketch and satirical news program that comments on and Parody, parodies Portal:Current events, current events. It is Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches, the show ...

'' segment of the season 32 premiere of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

'', hosted by

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: '' Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; ''Vicious Circle''; '' Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garde ...

. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show. Williams appeared on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) and ...

'' in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, "squid", in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on ''Sesame Street'' again in a 2008 episode, reporting for ''Sesame Street Nightly News'' about the "mine-itis" outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala. On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with

Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for '' NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...

, the Canadian sportscaster of CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set. Some in the media dubbed this the new "

Battle of the Brians The Battle of the Brians was an informal name given by the press to the figure skating rivalry between Canadian Brian Orser and American Brian Boitano at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. This competition is considered one of the most memorab ...

", as NBC's Williams compared his own modest set to CTV's expensive Olympic studio. Williams regularly appeared on ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. About pag ...

'', where he

slow jam A slow jam is music with rhythm and blues and soul influences. Slow jams are commonly R&B ballads or downtempo songs, and are mostly soft-sounding with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content. The earliest known use of the term is the 1983 ...

s the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with

The Roots The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's '' The Tonight Show Starring Jimm ...

providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours. Williams has also made numerous appearances on ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production c ...

''. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...

. He has also appeared on ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musi ...

'', where he took part in numerous skits and interviews. Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC's television comedy ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', ta ...

'', as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode "

The Ones The Ones are an American electronic dance music group. Their 2001 hit single " Flawless" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium and the United Kingdom. The trio consisted of three male vocalists Paul Alexander, JoJo Americo, and Nas ...

", he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In "

Audition Day "Audition Day" is the fourth episode of the 30 Rock (season 4), fourth season of the American television comedy series ''30 Rock'', and the 62nd overall episode of the series. The episode was written by supervising producer Matt Hubbard and direct ...

", he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey's character,

Liz Lemon Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television series ''30 Rock''. She created and writes for the fictional comedy-sketch show ''The Girlie Show'' and later ''TGS with Tracy Jordan''. She is po ...

. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the ''30 Rock'' season6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story. Williams was the commencement speaker at

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the Campus of Bates College, campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of th ...

in May 2005,

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U. ...

in May 2004,

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

in June 2008, and at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

in 2010. In May 2012, he spoke at the

commencement on the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

. He was the commencement speaker for

Elon University Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, Elon is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or professional doctorate ...

's graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas. Williams also collaborated on the ''Encyclopedia of World History'' from Backpack Books published in 2003. Williams has written for publications including ''The New York Times'' and ''Time'' magazine.

Controversies

Williams' statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny. For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans Superdome after Katrina. CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: "We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck." Appearing on ''

'' in August 2006, he told host

that he was nearly hit the previous month by Katyusha rockets fired from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramil ...

while flying in an

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

(IAF) Black Hawk helicopter: "Here's a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we've got the gunner doors on this thing, and I'm saying to the general, some four-star: 'It wouldn't take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?' Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me." In another version of the same story, Williams claimed that the rockets passed "just underneath the helicopter I was riding in." The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF's Black Hawks do not carry gunners. An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the "trajectory of the rockets was beneath us." A reference to the fall of the Berlin Wall also received scrutiny. In 2008, Williams said he was "at the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...

the night the wall came down", while CBS and other sources report that he did not arrive until the next day. Another statement by Williams, this one regarding the

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting s ...

, also received attention. Williams said he flew into Baghdad with

SEAL Team Six The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and commonly known as SEAL Team Six, is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often referre ...

, but Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw stated the SEALs do not embed journalists. On April 7, 2017, Williams referred to the

2017 Shayrat missile strike On the morning of 7 April 2017, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea into Syria, aimed at Shayrat Airbase controlled by the Syrian government. The strike was executed under responsibility of U.S. P ...

footage of missiles being fired from a US warship as "beautiful pictures" after quoting

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's " First We Take Manhattan". This brought widespread criticism from news organizations and social media.

Personal life

Brian Williams and his wife Jane Williams portrait 2009

Williams married Jane Gillan Stoddard, at the First Presbyterian Church of

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

, on June 7, 1986. They have two children:

Allison Allison may refer to: People * Allison (given name) * Allison (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Eugene Allison Smith (1922-1980), American politician and farmer Companies * Allison Engine Company, American aircraft engine ...

, an actress, and Doug, the late-night anchor of Geico SportsNite on

SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications t ...

. Williams and his wife live in New Canaan, and own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey and a

pied-à-terre A ''pied-à-terre'' (, plural: ''pieds-à-terre''; French for "foot on the ground") is a small living unit, e.g., apartment or condominium, often located in a large city and not used as an individual's primary residence. The term implies use of ...

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

. From 2006 to 2015, Williams was a member of the board of directors of the Medal of Honor Foundation; he resigned days after his suspension from NBC.

Honorary degrees

Television

Career timeline

* 1981:

* 1982–1986:

WTTG-TV WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...

correspondent * 1985: Panorama host * 1985–1987:

WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jerse ...

New Jersey correspondent * 1987–1993:

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station ...

anchor of weekday noon and weekend night newscasts; reporter * 1993–2021:

* 1993–1994, 1996–2004: correspondent * 1993–1999: ''

'' weekend anchor * 1994–1996: White House correspondent * 1996–2004:

'' The News with Brian Williams'' anchor * 2004–2015: ''

'' anchor * 2011–2013: ''

Rock Center with Brian Williams ''Rock Center with Brian Williams'' was an American weekly television newsmagazine that was broadcast on NBC from October 31, 2011 to June 21, 2013 and hosted by former ''NBC Nightly News'' anchor Brian Williams. It aired on Mondays until January ...

'' host * 2015: six-month suspension from ''NBC Nightly News'' * 2015–2021:

chief breaking news anchor * 2016–2021: '' The 11th Hour with Brian Williams'' anchor

References

External links

NBC News bio
*
"Brian Williams: My First Big Break"

Mediabistro Mecklermedia (formerly Internet.com LLC, Jupitermedia Inc., Mediabistro Inc. and WebMediaBrands Corporation) was a U.S.-based corporation. The original WebMediaBrands was established in 1994, and headquartered in New York. Founded by Alan M. ...

(2012)
"The duPont Talks: Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams"

Columbia Journalism School The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism s ...

(2014) * Chmiel, David
"His Heart Belongs to Jersey"
''New Jersey Monthly'', June 9, 2008. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Brian 1959 births 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American firefighters American male journalists American people of Irish descent American television reporters and correspondents American war correspondents Brookdale Community College alumni George Washington University alumni Journalists from New Jersey Journalists from New York City Living people Mater Dei High School (New Jersey) alumni Mass media-related controversies in the United States MSNBC people NBC News people Peabody Award winners People from Elmira, New York People from Middletown Township, New Jersey People from New Canaan, Connecticut People from Ridgewood, New Jersey Television anchors from Philadelphia News & Documentary Emmy Award winners Managing editors