Brian Williams’ Interview With Matt Lauer: ‘What Happened Is The Fall Of A Whole Host Of Other Sins’ [Video]
The Today show Brian Williams’ interview with Matt Lauer video is certainly getting a lot of replays on Friday. It’s the first time that Brian has spoken publicly and in-depth about the untruths that cost him his role as the long-time NBC Nightly News anchor. In describing what amounts to lies and hyperbole about his role in various news events, Brian said that his motive for lying came from a bad urge inside of him. Williams said that his lying was ego-driven and came from a place that wanted to make himself look better in situations where he already was a part of the action.
“What changed? I’ve always treated words carefully. After work, when I got out of the building, I used a double standard. I was sloppier. I said things that weren’t true. Looking back, that’s plain.”
The past five months have been torture for Brian, and the former NBC Nightly News anchor told Matt about what he now says are lies.
“I told the story correctly for years before I told it incorrectly. I was not trying to mislead people.”
Lauer pressed Williams throughout the interview to further admit more straightforwardly that he lied. Brian said that after his most famous lie about his military helicopter ride supposedly taking on fire, Williams tried and failed to apologize directly. Matt asked why Brian couldn’t just come out and say he was sorry.
“It came from a bad place. It came from a sloppy choice of words. I told stories that were not true. I never intended to. It got mixed up in my mind. It had to have been ego that made me think I had to be sharper, funnier, quicker than anybody else.”
Brian blamed his ego for telling viewers he’d been closer to the action than he was in actuality. He called the past five months a time during which he viewed the black box recordings from his career and went back over 20 years of public utterances to review his shameful lies.
“I was reading these newspaper stories not wanting it to be about me. These statements I made. I own this. I own up to this.”
While Brian tried to dissect with Lauer how it all happened and got to that point, Twitter lit up with reactions to the Williams-Lauer interview. Brian alluded to other mistakes but didn’t elaborate, no matter how much Matt pressed. Lauer attempted to get Brian to confess to other lies he has spilled on air. Instead of confessing to any more failures in the truth, Williams said he was sorry and that he’s different as a result.
“What happened is the fall of a whole host of other sins. My ego getting the better of me. To appear better than I was. That’s the process here.”
Lauer asked if forgiveness would have come sooner if Brian had just admitted he lied. Williams believes that is the case. He told stories that were wrong, Brian said. He wasn’t trying to use his job to mislead folks, Williams insists.
“I own this and I own up to this.”
As reported by the Inquisitr, Lester Holt is permanently replacing Williams and blazing a trail for African Americans as the first black major network news anchor.
[Image via Getty]
