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Brian Williams

Brian Williams' apology is under fire

Ann Oldenburg
USA TODAY
Brian Williams on the set in 2013.

NBC News anchor Brian Williams is coming under fire for a "mistake" he made about coming under real fire in 2003 during the invasion in Iraq.

Memes are flowing and questions about his credibility are rising.

On Wednesday night, Williams, 55, told the audience of his Nightly News, "I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

He went on to say, "This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran."

Williams spoke of the 2003 incident while honoring a retired command sergeant major at the Rangers game Friday. Fans gave the soldier a standing ovation.

But the problem is that Williams' helicopter wasn't hit.

His apology was prompted by a story in Stars and Stripes in which crew members on the helicopter that WAS hit said Williams was nowhere near it.

Williams and his camera crew were actually aboard a Chinook that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire, according to Stars and Stripes.

Said Williams,"I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another."

Now critics are wondering if Williams' career may be shot.

"If credibility means anything to NBC News, Brian Williams will no longer be managing editor and anchor of the evening newscast by the end of the day Friday," writes David Zurawik in The Baltimore Sun.

On Thursday's The View, Williams was a very Hot Topic, prompting a heated disagreement between Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell.

O'Donnell called it a "blatant lie" by Williams. "I think you would know if you were in a helicopter that was actually hit by a missile. So I don't think he didn't remember that. I think he fabricated that. And the apology seemed a little circuitous."

Goldberg was more forgiving. "People forget themselves. They can get all wrapped up in their stories.There but for the grace of God go I." She added, "I've done this. I've embellished stuff I've had to take back. I make stuff up sometimes."

Said O'Donnell: "So you're saying Brian Williams is not perfect, and it's ok that he did it?"

No, replied Goldberg, "I'm not saying it's ok that he did it. I just said, 'Listen, he stepped in doo-doo and there but for the grace of God, go we."

O'Donnell didn't back down. "That's a huge lie. That's not a little lie."

And the Internet is having fun with it. #BrianWilliamsMisremembers prompted some other historic events he might have been a part of.

And, of course, it became political.

NBC News is not commenting.

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