Despite calling out Brian Williams for a “dumb-ass error,” Fox News chairman Roger Ailes said in a recent interview that he feels NBC should bring back the embattled “Nightly News” anchor.
“I’d put Brian back, but I’d do it the right way,” Ailes told the Hollywood Reporter in a profile published on Monday.
“I think Brian’s a talent who made a dumb-ass error,” he added. “I’m a great believer in giving people a chance. If you haven’t actually killed someone or done something that’s irreparable, then it’s a matter of going on a little journey and never ever doing anything like that again.”
In February, Mother Jones published an article asking if Fox News superstar Bill O’Reilly had its own “Brian Williams Problem.” The the magazine spotted inconsistencies in O’Reilly’s war tales from his time as a reporter for CBS.
The questions led to a wave of subsequent investigations by the media casting doubt on O’Reilly’s work, from his claim to have been on the scene of a famous suicide (which audio tapes and several contemporaries dispute) to his statements saying he had witnessed American nuns shot in the head in El Salvador (he later said he only saw photos).
On Feb. 23, Fox News said Ailes was “in full support” of Bill O’Reilly.
