Yes, Brian Williams does have some regrets.
On Thursday night, the veteran journalist and news anchor signed off as host of MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour”, ending his 28-year run with NBC News.
READ MORE: Brian Williams Reveals He’s Exiting NBC News: ‘The End Of A Chapter And The Beginning Of Another’
In his farewell monologue, Williams expressed his concern for the direction of the United States of America and the country’s divided politics.
“After 28 years of Peacock logos on much of what I own, it is my choice now to jump without a net into the great unknown,” he said. “As I do, for the first time in my 62 years, my biggest worry is for my country.
“The truth is I am not a liberal or a conservative,” Williams continued. “I am an institutionalist. I believe in this place, and in my love of country I yield to no one. But the darkness on the edge of town has spread to the main roads and highways and neighborhoods. It is now at the local bar and the bowling alley, at the school board and the grocery store. And it must be acknowledged and answered for. Grown men and women, who swore an oath to our Constitution — elected by their constituents, possessing the kind of college degrees I could only dream of — have decided to join the mob and become something they are not, while hoping we somehow forget who they were. They’ve decided to burn it all down with us inside. That should scare you to no end.”
Williams went on to thank his colleagues and his family, and then quoted some famous Frank Sinatra lyrics.
“‘Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention,’” he said. “What a ride it has been. Where else, how else, was a kid like me going to meet presidents and kings and the occasional rockstar? These lovely testimonials that I can never truly repay make me hyper aware that it has been and remains a wonderful life. It’s as if I am going to wake up tomorrow morning in Bedford Falls. The reality is, though, I will wake up tomorrow in the America of the year 2021 — a nation unrecognizable to those who came before us and fought to protect it, which is what you must do now.”
Finally, he added, “My colleagues will take it from here. I will probably find it impossible to be silent and stay away from you and lights and cameras.” But his potential return to the airwaves would come only “after I experiment with relaxation and find out what I have missed, and what is out there.”
Williams announced he would be leaving NBC News back on Nov. 9, bringing to an end a relationship that began in 1993 when he joined the network.
Before moving to MSNBC, Williams served as chief anchor and managing editor of NBC’s Nightly News, succeeding Tom Brokaw in 2004.
In 2015, he faced scandal and a six-month suspension over false claims about his helicopter being hit by a grenade in March 2003 while covering the Iraq War. He was later replaced by Lester Holt in the anchor role, and made his transition to the 24-hour cable network.
