It's been six months since NBC anchor Brian Williams was suspended without pay after he misreprenstated events while covering the Iraq War back in 2003. As the investigation furthered, NBC realized that he had done the same thing with many other stories. His six-month suspension ended last month and it was revealed that he would be returning to TV sometime in September.
Now, the official date has been released and it turns out the 56-year-old anchor will be returning to MSNBC on Sept. 22, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He will be anchoring live breaking news on that day and is expected to be covering the U.S. visit from Pope Francis.
MSNBC is set to announce its official 9 a.m.-to 5 p.m. lineup soon as president Phil Griffith has already made some adjustments to the lineup. Three afternoon programs have been cancelled, "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd will be returning to the 5 p.m. slot, and the 6 p.m. slot remains open after Al Sharpton's "PoliticsNation" was moved to Sundays starting Oct. 4.
Williams, on the other hand, will not have a dedicated hour on this schedule, according to network executives. Instead, he will work on different afternoon programs as news arises. He will also anchor live breaking NBC News special reports when the usual anchor Lester Holt is not available.
"I'm sorry. I said things that weren't true," Williams said in a statement a few months ago. "I let down my NBC colleagues and our viewers and I'm determined to earn back their trust."
While appearing on "Today" in June, Williams told host Matt Lauer that the whole thing had been "torture" for him but he understands that it was "absolutely necessary."
"I have discovered a lot of things," he said. "I have been listening and watching what amounts to the black box recordings of my career. I've gone back through everything - basically 20 years of public utterances. These statements I made, I own this; I own up to this and I have to go through and see and try to figure out how it happened."
