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Brian Williams is under scrutiny after admitting he made up a story about being in a helicopter that took enemy fire in Iraq, with critics going back and looking for other inconsistencies in the newsman’s public proclamations. There have been accusations that Williams also embellished the drama surrounding his coverage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and now doubt has even been cast on his alleged rescue of puppies from a fire.
It turns out the “NBC Nightly News” anchor has told at least two different versions of a story about saving pets from a blaze as a young volunteer firefighter in New Jersey. In an October 2011 essay for USA Weekend, Williams wrote this:
I remember one such house fire — the structure was fully involved with flames and smoke. I was wearing a breathing apparatus, conducting a search on my hands and knees, when I felt something warm, squishy and furry on the floor of a closet. I instinctively tucked it in my coat. When I got outside, I saw two small eyes staring up at me, and I returned the 3-week-old (and very scared) puppy to its grateful owners.
But six years earlier, in a July 2005 Esquire piece, Williams recounted, “All I ever did as a volunteer fireman was once save two puppies.” The distinction between one puppy or two puppies may not be a big one… but it’s kind of a difficult detail to get wrong. With observers growing suspicious of the facts in Williams’ stories, the puppy discrepancy is being seen as evidence the anchor has a bigger truth-telling problem than just the helicopter story. What do you think?
