Brian Williams suspended from NBC News for six months without pay

Embattled NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has been suspended for six months without pay, NBC said late tonight.

NBC was expected to make a decision today or tomorrow after launching an investigation into Williams last week.

“This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position,” NBC News president Deborah Turness said in a statement, posted by the New York Times.

Williams, 55, also served as managing editor on Nightly News. In December, he signed a contract extension with the network for five years. It’s been reported that the deal was worth $10 million a year.

Lester Holt, who anchors Nightly News on the weekend, will fill in for Williams during his suspension. Holt has already been anchoring the show this week and Williams took himself off the broadcast for “several days.”

Williams came under fire last week for a fabricated Iraq War story. He claimed that in 2003, he was on a helicopter shot by an RPG. That was later found to be a lie. He initially said that he made a mistake, but Internet sleuths quickly discovered that it was a lie he had told several times, including during a 2013 David Letterman appearance.

NBC News will likely try to find a permanent replacement for Williams, who has also cultivated a celebrity persona as a late night talk show guest, but it will be difficult. He has been anchoring Nightly News for 10 years, following Tom Brokaw's retirement.

image courtesy of B. Ach/INFevents.com

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