5 Feb 2015

In memes: Brian Williams and the Iraq ‘fog of memory’

NBC News anchor Brian Williams apologises for incorrectly recalling a story about being shot at in a helicopter during the Iraq war. But surely the internet would be sympathetic? Yeah, maybe not.

Lost in the “fog of memory”, NBC News anchor Brian Williams has retracted a story he has told several times about being shot at with a rocket-propelled grenade in a Chinook helicopter during the Iraq war.

He last told the story on Friday, while reporting a tribute at a New York Rangers hockey game for a retired soldier who provided ground security during the incident.

But soldiers aboard the helicopter that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire said the journalist had arrived on a different helicopter an hour later.

“I spent much of the weekend thinking I’d gone crazy,” Williams said after his confession – so how will he feel after seeing the internet’s best efforts to poke fun at his memory lapse?