As we assumed, Brian Williams will not be returning to the anchor desk at NBC Nightly News. The final internal report on all of Brian’s many, many lies will not be completed until July or August, probably, but what NBC has discovered so far must have been pretty bad, because we’ve been hearing for more than a month that Brian is definitely going. In fact, the only reason his exit was ever in question is because Brian has some kind of hardcore management/legal team threatening to sue the bejesus out of NBC if Brian doesn’t get a generous exit package. So, what does Brian’s departure from the Nightly News look like? Well, he’s probably going to stay with NBC Universal in some capacity, likely moving to something “newsy” on MSNBC.
NBC and Brian Williams have finally reached an agreement that the disgraced anchorman will not return to “NBC Nightly News,” but will stay at the network in a different news role. Multiple sources confirmed to Page Six that after weeks of complex negotiations NBC is likely to announce Thursday that Lyin’ Brian is out of the anchor chair, but will remain a part of the news division.
The deal was hammered out between Williams’ agent Bob Barnett, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke and NBC News chairman Andy Lack, amid speculation that Williams could leave the network altogether and walk away from his $50 million, five-year deal.
An insider said, “There is an agreement. Brian won’t return to the anchor chair but has agreed to a different, news-oriented role. The negotiations have been complicated and difficult.” It was not immediately clear how much of Williams’ huge contract would be honored by NBC. A second source told us that Williams’ new role, which has been negotiated in strict secrecy, “is something very different, but within news, that gives Brian room to grow and to rebuild his reputation.”
The source added the role was “very different” from that given to Ann Curry, who was made an NBC News national and international correspondent after her excruciating departure from “Today” in June 2012. She left the network in January, unhappy that she was “basically doing nothing.”
The source added that Lester Holt, who has stoically stood in for Williams during his ongoing six-month suspension, is certain to be promoted to anchor of “NBC Nightly News.”
CNN Money first reported Wednesday night on NBC and Williams’ tentative deal, saying details of his next role were “unknown to all but a very small number of executives.” The talks have also centered on how Williams would further apologize for his storytelling which included an exaggerated account of an Iraq war mission. Reps for NBC News and Williams could not be immediately reached.
Of course they won’t treat him like Ann Curry! Ann Curry is a woman and therefore deserved to have her reputation and career shredded by NBC for no real reason (other than Matt Lauer didn’t like her). Brian Williams has been caught out in a dozen major, public lies, so obviously he needs to be treated gently, like a little fluffy bunny with feelings. A source told CNN Money that Williams “will be the face of MSNBC” post-scandal and he will be “handling big breaking news stories” for MSNBC, I’m assuming. I watch MSNBC pretty consistently (go ahead and make fun of me, but I like Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow) and let me just say… I don’t appreciate this idea of “Put Brian Williams on MSNBC, no one will notice.”
Oh, but I’m happy that Lester Holt will be staying as anchor. I LOVE LESTER HOLT.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
“Of course they won’t treat him like Ann Curry! Ann Curry is a woman and therefore deserved to have her reputation and career shredded by NBC for no real reason (other than Matt Lauer didn’t like her). Brian Williams has been caught out in a dozen major, public lies, so obviously he needs to be treated gently, like a little fluffy bunny with feelings.”
WORD!
WORD!
Ugh, Unreal!
Well put!
So awful and so true.
It’s still a White man’s world so yeah he will come out ahead financially and the public will forgive him in a few years. Ann Curry did nothing wrong but she is female and non-White, two points against her. Really upsetting.
This has more to do with NBC not wanting to get sued and fulfilling a contract and less to do with him being white. This a business decision.
Yeah the difference between him an Curry is probably that she did not have a iron-clad contract.
So he’s not really being punished. So sad!
So where’s the accountability? Nowhere!
Oh, please do not compare him to Ann Curry. Ann is out because, although she’s a nice person, she was HORRIBLE as an anchor.
Brian Williams should be out of the network altogether, because he’s a proven liar and manipulator. Ann deserved a nice exit package; Brian deserves NOTHING.
How can you not. The only thing Ann is guilty of is not doing well as a morning anchor. Her treatment was completely unnecessary and damaging. She did not lie on camera and treat staff like crap. She honored the job she was offered and did it to the best of her abilities. She was wronged.
Tiffany, I basically said exactly what you said. You can’t compare them because Ann was not a liar and manipulator and, as you said, only guilty of not doing a good job as an anchor. I agree that her parting was not handled properly. Reread my comment.
I guess I’m in the minority here because while the Ann Curry episode was mishandled, I hold her equally responsible for the victim consuming posture she embraced with such relish. Her attempt at co-anchoring was a terrible fit and she gunned for it knowing the consequences if she failed.
I agree that Anne was horrible at her job.
Thanks Kiddo. I think Ann Curry is probably a nice person, but I never liked her as an anchor and agree w/ anniefannie that she overplayed the victim persona.
It was painful to watch how the network handled her dismissal, but she needed to be let go. Because of the mishandling of her situation, she deserved an exit package. Brian Williams’ situation is/was entirely different from hers…he earned all the public humiliation heaved on him and deserves nothing more from the network.
Glad for Lester but you’re right, this is a joke otherwise. Brian Williams is a news man who is a compulsive liar but he gets to be the face of MSNBC while Ann Curry did nothing wrong and was treated like dirt. Shame on NBC.
Should be fired, and never work in anything related to news again.
Seems like a no-brainer. I wonder what dirt he’s got on a higher-up or two to keep any kind of employment there.
^This. He’s got something on NBC. His credibility is totally shot as a news reporter, so he’s now going to be the Big Cheese at MSNBC? It’s a slap in the face to Rachael Maddow, Chris Hayes, Melissa Harris – I could go on –
Exactly this… and ‘newsy’ or ‘news-ish’ is correct. Maddow (the one with whom I’m most familiar) takes pains to separate her news from her soft features, as a responsible journalist would. This puts so many serious, professional people there in a horrible position. Can just picture the holiday news dinner table: you’re trying to tell a story, when your lying uncle keeps interrupting with totally fabricated details to make everything more ‘interesting’ and insert himself into the drama.
What a disrespectful, pathetic move – and I have to wonder if Brian Williams himself has a scrap of even *self*respect left by accepting this forced compromise (we can see how little respect he has for the news and for his colleagues and for his network and for his audience.) After being so thoroughly discredited, I’m not sure he’s in a position to ask anyone the time of day at this point.
So, he joins the other so called “journalist” at MSNBC who also are full of lies and BS. Makes perfect sense to me!
No he’d go to Fox for lies and BS.
I guess that’s why FOX is number 1 and MSNBC ratings have been tanking for years. They are the lowest of low at the moment.
And I’m just waiting to see what Murdoch’s sons do to Ailes and Fox News. I hear they don’t like Ailes or that network. Stay tuned folks.
Oh, and Fox News viewers are generally aging out of existence, so there go their ratings in the long run…and Fox News gets included in more basic cable packages than MSNBC, which shot itself in the foot when it cut Olbermann loose.
So now we wait to see if Murdoch’s sons take the pruning sheers to Ailes’ power at Fox…
Ratings don’t equal responsible journalism. While MSNBC slants left its not in the same hemisphere as Fox ‘s garbage.
Best scenario ever: Set him up on an interview with Dolezal, and Brian Williams can ask questions based on his experience, as a black journalist who almost died in a helicopter that was nearly shot down.
Omg Brillant rlmao tears and all!
OMG hahah! Best laugh today! Thanks.