The 'Daily Show' host, while taking a jab at Williams for changing his Iraq story multiple times, criticizes media's hypocrisy on the matter.
- Feb 10, 2015
AceShowbiz - Jon Stewart took on Brian Williams controversy on the Monday, February 9 episode of his "The Daily Show". Calling it "infotainment confusion syndrome," the comedian said the NBC News anchor might have allowed his "celebrity cortex" in his brain to override his journalistic instincts as he cited Williams' conflicting roles as a celebrity and a journalist.
But Stewart took a more serious jab at media's coverage of the scandal and criticized their hypocrisy for pretending "that they must guard the crown jewel of their credibility." He played clips of some reports on the issue and commented, "Finally, somebody is being held to account for misleading America about the Iraq War."
On "The Nightly Show", Larry Wilmore also addressed the Brian Williams scandal. "We look at our relationship with war and revisit the movie 'Black Hawk Down', or as Brian Williams calls it, 'The Brian Williams Story,' " he said. He jokingly added, "As a fellow purveyor of fake news, I sympathize with Brian Williams."
Brian Williams is taking temporary leave from NBC's "Nightly News" after he was caught lying about his story that the helicopter he was riding in was hit by enemy in Iraq in 2003. NBC News is currently investigating his claim.
In a newly released audio interview with Stars and Stripes, Williams said of his fabricated account, "I would not have chosen to make this mistake. I don't know what screw-up in my mind caused me to conflate one aircraft with the other." He continued, "A professional will look at this differently, they go into a kind of hyper drive. I did what a civilian, an untrained civilian, would do in that instance, and it was... it was being scared."
