During the big SNL event on Sunday night, a few people cracked jokes about Brian Williams’ situation. Jerry Seinfeld joked about Brian Williams being in Vietnam and Jim Carrey made a crack to Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie about “where are you hiding Brian Williams?” – you can see the video here. Tina Fey’s reaction is funny, you can see her saying “poor Brian” and then laughing at Jim’s jokes.
So, is that where we are with the Brian Williams scandal at this point? Is he just a punchline? Would he ever be able to recover? Many people believe that Williams’ six month suspension (unpaid) is just a chance for NBC to do a proper search for a new anchor and that in six months’ time, Williams will be gone. Contractually, how does that theory stand up? According to Page Six, pretty well.
Embattled NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ fate beyond his six-month unpaid suspension could hang on a “morality clause” in his contract — which means he could be fired if he offended “a significant portion of the community” or brought himself “public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule,” among other concerns.
The anchor has lawyered up with Bob Barnett, the distinguished attorney who also repped Ann Curry during her dealings with NBC. Sources tell Page Six that Williams’ contract could hang on the morality clause issue, and whether NBC brass, including Stephen Burke and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, rule he breached it.
Williams had recently signed a $10 million, five-year pact. Sources say that a “public morals” clause that appears in NBC News employees’ paperwork includes the verbiage: ‘“If artist commits any act or becomes involved in any situation, or occurrence, which brings artist into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule, or which justifiably shocks, insults or offends a significant portion of the community, or if publicity is given to any such conduct . . . company shall have the right to terminate.”’
Reports have said NBC execs seriously considered firing Williams before settling on the suspension.
Morals clauses always get you! I’m guessing that yes, Williams will be gone by the end of the year but he probably will get to keep that $10 million. They’ll consider it “going away” money.
As for the latest clusterwhoops that is Williams’ journalism career, there are a bunch of other stories about his lies and how everyone is gunning for him now. Tom Brokaw and Williams have apparently always disliked each other and Brokaw was telling NBC executives for a year that Williams was a fantasist. Williams also lied about being embedded with Navy SEALS, because of course he did. Gawker says Williams probably lied about meeting Pope John Paul as well.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Huh. A friend of mine lies about things a lot (not on this scale, of course) But… it always makes me wonder – what is the pyschology behind that? low self-esteem? it’s kinda interesting.
I have known two people in my life that I considered pathological liars. I’m not any kind of expert, but from knowing those two, I agree that they lie to make themselves look better and feel better about themselves, even if it’s just momentary. Both told lies that could easily be discredited, and both appeared pretty nonchalant when caught in a lie, like “yeah, so?” While a normal person would be mortified. I’d be interested to an expert’s answer to your question, too. Is it like shoplifting? A momentary thrill?
Same here. An old friend of mine lied all the time about his career (hes a struggling actor), and about things he had done. Most recently, he lied about being admitted (to the university I went to!!) under a major that doesnt exist at that school. It made me so sad that he felt the need to do that. He had to know that I of all people (being an alumnus ) would know thats a blatant lie. Its so strange.
As far as Brian Williams goes, I suspect this has been his MO all along, but its just now, in the internet and social media age, that he is being exposed. Back when his career started and up until now, he could make up these lies/half-truths and get away with it to further his career.
I had a friend that would lie about the dumbest things…I never understood that….Lying, just to make a good story!
Some of it is sociopathic, too, because they don’t care if they get caught in the lie or not. I dated a sociopath and he was also a pathological liar.
Sometimes, these pathological liars, actually start to believe their own lies, after telling these stories for so long….I actually was married to someone like that!
I think in a way they actually believe the lies – not really low self esteem but just presenting themselves to the world the way they think they should be presented, as opposed to how they really are …
There’s a lot of research that points to children of alcoholics/drug abusers, and/or survivors of dysfunctional childhoods, as tending toward compulsive lying. It makes sense, because those children are brought up to be quiet about the “truth” that’s glaring them right in the face: a parental figure, who is supposed to be providing care and security, is clearly out of control. Most family dynamics tend toward covering up, lying, enabling the abuser/addictive personality’s behavior. Then when the child grows up, he/she suffers from the double whammy of having a dysfunctional parent and not receiving the guidance that parent should have provided, and being taught to lie, and even being rewarded for lying. These types of personalities are usually terribly mortified when they are caught (the opposite of a sociopath). Therapy can help, but at its root, the behavior is really an attempt to pad the self-esteem. I’m not in any way saying this is the case with Brian Williams, but it’s always interesting to me when people get caught in outrageous lies – I am always curious as to the underlying psychological cause for it. In Brian’s case, he had very little to gain from telling these “embellishments” – he was already really well-respected, esteemed, even adored. Lends itself to the idea that it was a compulsive behavior that he couldn’t control. I, for one, do believe that he’s ashamed and embarrassed. But I also think this should be the end of his career.
Williams was always doing anything for attention. Showing up in cameos on NBC shows, pushing his daughter into the business….he’s a ham and a liar. Bad combo for a newsman! Haha
I can never understand how people like him have the nerve to lie about things that can easily be found out! He must totally live in a fantasy land.
Yea really! As if his viewership is stupid
Agreed! Especially nowadays, when you can verify anything online. You have to wonder, especially him thinking that none of the other guys he was with for that helicopter ride would call him out on his lies?
Brian Williams should be fired, no $10 million, fired, period! He has the easiest job on the planet…sits and reads the new, he screwed up BIG TIME, and should be let go…journalist’s, legitimate journalist’s, need to be held to the standard of AT LEAST being truthful…Is that too much to ask in this day and age!!!!!
Agreed!
Brian Williams wrote the morals clause….and The Constitution.
and Gone With the Wind! I think he invented the polio vaccine, too!
Brian Williams tried to cancel his Comcast contract before, and the rep said:
“But how is that helping you!? How is that helping you?! Explain to me how that is helping you!?”
And don’t forget his autobiographical movie, “Life of Brian”.
Good thing he hasn’t done anything to cause him to be held up to ridicule, because that would be breaking the terms of the morals clause. But since he wrote it, he knows how not to break it.
His name isn’t even Brian Williams, it’s Lyin Williams….lol
Brian Williams invented ridicule and ice cream.
He broke the morals clause of humanity.
Why fire Williams when you can simply suspend him without pay for six months? In the meantime NBC can do some damage control and Williams can concentrate on rehabilitating his image. He can then be brought back in early July when the outrage has died down and no one is paying attention.
The brass at NBC are a bunch of snakes. When Ann Curry was demoted she wanted to be released from her contract. NBC thought it better to sabotage her career and would have kept her off air entirely if they weren’t obligated to do so.
If Brokaw cannot peacefully coexist with Williams then Tom might be the one that NBC decides to terminate.
I wonder what he’s been doing since all of this happened? I wonder what his daughter thinks…she used so much of his goodwill for her own PR launch. Even his son piggybacked off his career with a radio show. Should be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
How did he get away with telling such porkies publicly?
It’s one thing to tell porkies privately to your mates, quite another to tell them on such a public platform.
IF he had a morality clause is the question. Someone on one of the news channels brought up that he could have negotiated to get it out of his contract when it was renewed…….which would kind of be sad if he actually negotiated to have it removed.
Interestingly enough, though, someone did a survey where the majority of people surveyed wouldn’t mind having him back on the air. Not saying it’s scientific or anything, but interesting……
Brian Williams told you that, amirite?
NBC should make Lester Holt the permanent anchor.
Yes! Put Lester Holt in the big chair!
My goodness his face is lopsided.
Yes, he broke the morals clause. His career should be over.
Sigh… I think this is such a small thing to be in a frenzy over when you think about all the times that Brian Williams and his colleagues perpetuated whoppers that were so much bigger. I’m still waiting for those apologies, suspensions and resignations of other American media figures for acting as Dubya’s mouthpieces when he launched the occupation of Iraq built on lies and paid for using a credit card in the name of China, People’s Republic of.
A big part of Brian Williams’ problem at this point is that there are millions of people out there saying to themselves, “You know, there was always something I didn’t like about the guy, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it…”
And now they can put their finger on it: he’s a self-aggrandizing pathological liar.
So Brokaw was gunning for him.
Wow.
NBC will never terminate Brokaw. He’s their elder statesman. On a par with Jennings, who’s dead, and Rather, who’s gone from CBS. He’s the only left from that era–that I can see–so they’ll trot him out as needed. And they need him now.
Dude is crazy, needs to be in a straight jacket in a mental hospital. He said a soldier anonymously sent him a piece of Fuselage of a aircraft he was shot at in Iraq in a white envelop as a souvenir! Anybody who takes anything from a war zone will go to prison for a long time. What the hell.
He also said he got a piece of the helicopter involved in the Osama Bin Laden mission and that he was at the Berlin Wall on the day it was first dismantled.
Any therapy he gets should involve the names Forest Gump, Walter Mitty, and Baron Munchausen.