Anchor Brian Williams is leaving the newsroom
New York, New York – Brian Williams, one of the nation's most famous TV anchors, will depart from the news desk.
After "28 years, 38 countries, 8 Olympic Games, 7 presidential elections, half a dozen presidents, a few wars, and one SNL," Williams said he will sign off from NBC, and from TV screens – for now.
"Following much reflection, and after 28 years with the company, I have decided to leave NBC upon the completion of my current contract in December," the anchor read on air from a prepared statement on Tuesday night. "I have been truly blessed. I have been allowed to spend almost half of my life with one company."
The 62-year-old was the anchor and managing editor of NBC's Nightly News, one of the top evening news broadcasts in the country, for nearly a decade. He previously hosted The News with Brian Williams beginning in 1996 and has "been in the business" with his deadpan humor for 40 years.
After he was suspended by the network for six months in 2015 for inaccurately reporting he was aboard a helicopter hit by a rocket in Iraq, he returned to MSNBC the next year as a breaking news anchor.
He then became creator and host of The 11th Hour on MSNBC, which pulls in big ratings and is currently watched by millions nightly at 11 PM.
Williams will continue the post through the end of this year, and said he will then spend time with his family "for the next few months." He is father to actor Allison Williams and son Doug Williams, who is also an anchor of a late-night show on SportsNet New York – which sometimes airs at the same time as his dad's MSNBC show.
Viewers are questioning where the renowned correspondent might appear after his downtime, and speculate he could already have plans to make a move to streaming.
In the past he has hosted Saturday Night Live, appeared on 30 Rock, and was a frequent late-night talk show guest.
"This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another," Williams said, creating an air of mystery as to how he will turn the page.
"There are many things I want to do," he added. "I’ll pop up again somewhere."
Cover photo: Collage: Imago/ZUMA Wire