Seven months after he disappeared from television screens amid revelations he had circulated a false story about coming under fire during the Iraq War, Brian Williams returned to the airwaves Tuesday.
In February, Williams was suspended for six months without pay from NBC in February after veterans questioned the veracity of his anecdote about almost being shot down over Iraq in 2003. The former anchor blamed the "fog of war" for his "misremebering" of the incident, but NBC News President Deborah Turness described his actions as "inexcusable."
His name was scrubbed from the network's primetime newscast, and he was later formally replaced by Lester Holt.
On Tuesday, with his suspension at an end, he returned to the air -- but not to his old job.
With Holt continuing to anchor the flagship NBC Nightly News, Williams has instead joined the lower-rated cable channel MSNBC as a breaking news anchor.
"Good day, I'm Brian Williams here at MSNBC headquarters," he said at 3 p.m. ET. as he began his broadcast on the lead-up to Pope Francis' arrival in the United States.
There was no acknowledgement of his suspension or his return to television.
Representatives from MSNBC did not immediately return a request for comment, but the head of NBC News and MSNBC, Andrew Lack, told the New York Times Williams' return was part of an effort to re-vamp the channel in an effort to boost struggling ratings.
“His passion fit exactly with one of our biggest needs,” Lack told the Times on Monday. “Brian will be such an important contribution to MSNBC’s page-turn here.”
The Times reported Williams won't have his own set show on MSNBC, but will instead be expected to lead coverage during major breaking news events.
“We are building a network that has as its core value delivering breaking news better than anyone else," Lacl said. "It is not about the anchor who happens to be delivering the news."