Former NBC News anchor finds new home at Netflix after controversy
Former NBC News anchor finds new home at Netflix after controversy
Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY Fri, April 17, 2026 at 6:27 PM UTC
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Former "NBC Nightly News" and MSNBC anchor Brian Williams is returning to TV screens since leaving NBC, where he became a mainstay for 28 years.
Williams, 66, will host a brand-new podcast on Netflix, "where viewers will see a side of him they’ve never seen before — unscripted, unhurried, and utterly himself."
The podcast, titled "We’re Back! With Brian Williams," will consist of the longtime news anchor conversing with the "most interesting figures shaping popular culture," including actors, writers, musicians, athletes, journalists and unexpected newsmakers, according to the streaming service.
"With scientists predicting that every American will have a podcast by 2030, I thought it was time to get in the game," Williams said in a statement. "After 40 years in the news business, where an in-depth interview gets 4 minutes of airtime at best, I just want to have interesting conversations with creative, funny, smart, talented, and consequential people — like the shows we all grew up watching and listening to. Netflix is the perfect home.”
This is the first time viewers will regularly see Williams since he announced his departure from NBC on the final episode of "The 11th Hour with Brian Williams," which aired on Dec. 9, 2021.
"I have been truly blessed," Williams wrote in a memo to NBC staffers in 2021. "I have been allowed to spend almost half of my life with one company. NBC is a part of me and always will be."
Here's what to know about Williams' new gig.
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When will Brian Williams' podcast premiere?
As of April 17, Netflix has not announced a release date for Williams' podcast.
Netflix said four-time Emmy winner Jonathan Wald, who previously worked with Williams at NBC News and went on to oversee "Election Night Live with Brian Williams," will executive produce the podcast. At Will Media will be producing the podcast, with At Will's Will Malnati and Ashley Taylor serving as executive producers alongside Wald.
Brian Williams apologizes for story embellishments
The move to Netflix comes after NBC conducted a six-month internal investigation in 2015 that found Williams made several false and embellished statements about his previous reporting experiences. One notable distortion that led to Williams' eventual reassignment as a breaking news anchor for MSNBC was his recounting of time covering the 2003 Iraq War, where he said a helicopter was hit by an RPG when it was not, PBS and the Washington Post reported.
In a statement at the time, NBC said an "extensive review found that Williams made a number of inaccurate statements about his own role and experiences covering events in the field. The statements in question did not, for the most part, occur on NBC News platforms or in the immediate aftermath of the news events, but rather on late-night programs and during public appearances, usually years after the news events in question."
Following the investigation and Williams' subsequent demotion, he apologized for his falsifications.
"I am sorry," Williams told former NBC "Today" host Matt Lauer during an interview in 2015. "I am sorry for what happened. I am different as a result, and I expect to be held to a different standard."
Contributing: Charles Trepany/ USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-NBC News anchor Brian Williams to host new podcast on Netflix
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
