NBC News has suspended "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams for six months, according to NBC News.

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Williams' account of being struck by enemy RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fire while in a helicopter during the initial 2003 Iraqi invasion came under scrutiny this week after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that were hit by RPG fire told Stars and Stripes newspaper Williams was nowhere near the helicopter shot down.

The anchor acknowledged the same in an interview with the newspaper on February 4th: ""I would not have chosen to make this mistake," Williams said. "I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another," he said. On Wednesday night, Williams apologized on-air.

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"I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago…I want to apologize, I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire, I was instead in a following aircraft."

After anchoring the next two days after his apology, Williams announced he'd be stepping away from the broadcast while NBC News dealt with the situation. Weekend "Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt has filled in for Williams.

The veteran NBC News anchor has told the story of getting shot down by RPG fire several times over the years, including on David Letterman in 2013: "Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire, including the one I was in, RPG and AK47," he told Letterman. "We figure out how to land safely…we landed very quickly and hard," he continued.

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After he admitted to his "mistake," TV news covered one of its own at length, on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC.

Digital media also had a field day, with pieces that equated Williams with war "chickenhawks" to another that went inside the science behind Williams' "horrifying memory flub." And social media exploded, with #BrianWilliamsMisremembers becoming a trop trender on Twitter with users playing out historical events Williams might have misremembered.

Few media figures have defended Williams: The Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik— not known for going for the jugular — called for Williams' firing. Countless others, including Fox News' Howard Kurtz, have suggested Williams' repeatedly telling the false story over years leaves him in a very tough situation.

"This just does not pass the smell test," Brian Stelter told Alisyn Camerota Thursday. "How can anyone conflate being on a helicopter that did not take fire and being on a helicopter that did take fire." Stelter suggested the big question Williams didn't address during his on-air apology was how far away he was from the helicopter that was shot down.

Read original story NBC News Suspends Brian Williams for False Iraqi Helicopter Story At TheWrap