Good Night and Good Luck

Brian Williams does a 'dramatic reading' of his resignation memo after 28 years at NBC

MSNBC host and former longtime NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams informed colleagues Tuesday that he will leave the network when his contract ends at the end of December. He has been in journalism for 39 years, 28 of them at NBC, Williams said on The 11th Hour Tuesday night, and in case viewers missed his resignation letter "or demanded a dramatic reading, here it is."

In his memo, Williams, 62, said he has "been truly blessed" to "spend almost half of my life with one company. NBC is a part of me and always will be." He did not say what his future plans are, only that "this is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another. There are many things I want to do, and I'll pop up again somewhere."

Williams was suspended from his decade-old role as NBC's top news anchor in 2015 after it was determined he had made false claims about his experiences covering wars. He subsequently landed at MSNBC and started The 11th Hour, and in his memo, Williams said he's as proud of what he has done on that show "as the decade I spent anchoring Nightly News."