One of the criticisms of Brian Williams, especially in the wake of this Iraq War story scandal, is that he paid more attention to cultivating a celebrity personality than being an actual journalist. Now, there’s a report out there that he was honing his skills as a storyteller because he wanted to host the Tonight Show.
NBC insiders told New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer that Williams actually wanted the Tonight Show gig when the network finally decided that it was time for Jay Leno to leave. However, NBC decided to promote Late Night host and real comedian Jimmy Fallon instead.
“Brian wants to be a late-night comedian,” a former colleague told the site. “He traded on being Nightly News anchorman-war-reporter to ingratiate himself with Jimmy, Lorne Michaels, and Jon Stewart.”
The Daily Intelligencer claims that people within NBC News had known for awhile that Williams had a habit of embellishing his stories. Sources told the site that Williams has incredible power within the division, which would make it really hard for him to be fired completely.
NBC News announced last night that Williams would be suspended six months without pay. It came after days of turmoil for the network, following Williams’ apology for a fake story about how he was in a helicopter in 2003 that was struck by an RPG during the Iraq War. While he called it a mistake, it turns out that he told the story several times during the past decade, even to David Letterman in 2013.
Williams has done his best to be a celebrity more than a journalist. He made appearances on Tina Fey’s 30 Rock to make a joke of himself. He’s also a regular late night guest for Letterman and Fallon. In fact, he had to cancel a Letterman appearance after the scandal broke.
He signed a five-year contract extension in December, worth a reported $10 million a year.
image courtesy of B. Ach/INFevents.com