Brian Williams will finally make his return to NBC News on Sept. 22.
The disgraced former “Nightly News” anchor — who has been serving a six-month suspension for exaggerating his reporting — will debut as MSNBC’s breaking news anchor as part of the network’s coverage of Pope Francis’ US visit that day, a NBC News spokesperson confirmed.
Williams, 56, will not have his own program, but rather be available for breaking news reporting during MSNBC’s daytime programming. Going forward, his air time on the channel is expected to vary day to day.
The embattled newsman has been in exile since February, after he was discovered to have embellished his accounts of reporting from the field, including claiming that a helicopter he was traveling in was shot down in Iraq.
After an internal investigation, NBC officially replaced him with Lester Holt on “Nightly News” in June and offered Williams the MSNBC role, which he was originally set to assume in mid-August.
MSNBC, for its part, has been struggling in the daytime. The channel canceled three afternoon programs — “The Cycle,” “Now With Alex Wagner” and “The Ed Show” — in July, and it ranked third among news networks in August (315,000 viewers), behind CNN.