News anchor Brian Williams announced Tuesday that he will be leaving MSNBC and NBC News at the end of 2021.
“This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another,” Williams said in a statement. “There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere.”
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Williams has anchored political talk program The 11th Hour for the past five years. His contract is set to expire at the end of the year, and he reportedly has expressed a desire to move away from nighttime programming, CNN reported.
“I ask all those who are a part of our loyal viewing audience to remain loyal. The 11th Hour will remain in good hands, produced by the best team in cable news,” his statement continued.
Williams was a critical figure in the launch of MSNBC News in 1996. He quickly became a household name as the host of NBC Nightly News, one of the country’s most-watched news shows.
He summarized his experience on the network, saying, “28 years, 38 countries, 8 Olympic games, 7 Presidential elections, half a dozen Presidents, a few wars, and one SNL.”
“Good friends were in great supply at NBC,” he said. “I was fortunate that everyone I worked with made me better at my job. I’ve had the best colleagues imaginable. That includes great bosses.”
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Williams was suspended in 2015 for six months after he was found to have lied about being shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq and was replaced by Lester Holt. Upon his return, he was able to reinvent himself and largely move past the scandal.
“Most broadcasters would have been cooked if they had undergone the sort of scandal that Williams faced in 2015,” Vanity Fair said in 2017. “But a slow-and-steady revival — a mixture of dutiful penance, clever planning, and a dramatic change in the media — has Williams turning 11 p.m. into the new primetime.”
