NBC News still has five months to make a decision on the future of Brian Williams, but Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly knows what they should do. He thinks Williams should definitely be allowed back.
While on CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman last night, O’Reilly said that NBC News should let Williams anchor NBC Nightly News again, after his six-month suspension is up.
“From the beginning, I’ve said that... We have a sport in the United States called ‘let’s destroy the famous person.’ And that’s what happened to him,” O’Reilly said. “And I think NBC should bring him back. I think they will bring him back.”
Williams was suspended for six months without pay in February after he told a fabricated Iraq War story about being shot down while in a helicopter in 2003.
Of course, O’Reilly himself was accused of fabricating a story, as a Mother Jones article questioned O’Reilly’s stories about his Falklands War experiences. O’Reilly shrugged those allegations off, even telling Letterman that his audience has climbed 20 percent.
When Letterman asked if there was any difference between Williams’ situation and his, O’Reilly insisted that he had told the truth.
“So we had a controversy there, and we put forth what my side was,” he said. “They put forth what their side was. Folks decided and, you know, it worked OK for me. I got even more viewers.”
O’Reilly also said that he has never “knowingly” fibbed on the air, but then said that what he does is “analysis” and gives his opinion.
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