Brian Williams had been NBC News’ top anchor from 2004 until 2015, when he was suspended for falsely claiming that he had been in a helicopter hit by enemy fire during the Iraq War. A subsequent investigation found that he had made other inaccurate statements about his experiences covering events, and he lost the job. He was later given the 11pm hour at MSNBC.
In 2021, Sharon Osbourne was fired from CBS’ The Talk after a heated on-air discussion about racism and Megyn Kelly was fired from her NBC morning show in 2018 after triggering a furore by suggesting it was okay for white people to wear blackface at Halloween.
“What is racist? You do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween, or a Black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay just as long as you were dressing as a character,” Kelly said. The next day, she apologised to viewers on air, saying, “I want to begin with two words: “I’m sorry.” The show was canceled by the end of the week.
In 2023, CNN fired host Don Lemon a little over two months after he apologised for on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being past her prime. Lemon issued a statement the same day saying he regretted his “inartful and irrelevant” comments.
HOT MIC
Former Today host Billy Bush was fired in 2016 after he was caught on tape in a vulgar conversation about women with then -Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before an Access Hollywood appearance.
Bush was suspended at the morning show two days after contents of the 2005 tape were reported. On the tape, Bush is heard laughing as Trump talks about fame enabling him to grope and try to have sex with women not his wife.
ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP
In 2023, TJ Holmes and Amy Robach, anchors at the afternoon extension of ABC’s Good Morning America, left the network after their romance was reported.
The pair were taken off the air and placed on temporary hiatus after photos surfaced of them holding hands and spending time together. Both were married to other people at the time but had separated. “We all agreed it’s best for everyone that they move on from ABC News,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement.
