Alec Baldwin offered his two cents’ worth on the Brian Williams helicopter-story scandal during his WNYC show “Here’s the Thing” on Tuesday, saying that the “NBC Nightly News” anchor — currently on a six-month suspension because of his truth-stretching — exaggerated the details of his 2003 helicopter ride to appeal to his newscast’s “pro-military,” “very conservative” audience.
During an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Baldwin offered his thoughts on the topic, opining that Williams was “wrapping himself in the flag to please his audience.”
“Brian, I think, fell even unconsciously victim to something, which was wrapping himself in the flag and in the glory of the military to please his audience,” Baldwin offered. “I see his language and I see the way he plays it out and I try to understand people as an actor, like what they’re going through.
“And I thought, ‘He’s trying to communicate to people here. He’s trying to tell them something,’” Baldwin continued. “And I think his crowd happens to be a very pro-military, conservative crowd. I mean, six o’clock news on NBC … it’s an older, more conservative crowd.”
Baldwin did admit that his theory was “a big swing I’m taking here.”
Williams was suspended after his account of a helicopter flight during the 2003 invasion of Iraq was called into question. Williams had claimed that the helicopter he boarded was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that actually was hit by RPG fire came forward earlier this year insisting that Williams wasn’t anywhere near the struck helicopter.
The news anchor admitted his account was faulty in early February, telling Stars and Stripes, “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”
Listen to Baldwin’s theory in the audio.