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Arsenio Hall Gets Apology From Brian Williams

The newsman is sorry for omitting Hall from roundup.

Arsenio Hall gets some TV justice. After leaving Hall out of a prominent TV news story, the veteran news anchor took to the air to offer the talk show pioneer an apology.

This week, The Arsenio Hall Show was omitted from an all-white NBC Nightly News round up of late-night talk show hosts who would give newly minted Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon competition. Offended, Hall took anchor Brian Williams to task on his show. After listing his credits, and inviting walk-on guest Suge Knight to apply comedic pressure, Hall urged his viewers and audience members to call the newsman directly to protest the exclusion.

Hall’s grassroots efforts worked, his viewers crashed the NBC switchboard.

Williams issued an on-air apology by saying, “In our story about Jimmy Fallon joining the fray of the late night talk shows, we showed a graphic that was incomplete… and it excluded Arsenio Hall’s syndicated talk show. Arsenio Hall is a late night veteran and he took us to task on his late night talk show. He even urged our viewers to call our newsroom. So in apologizing to Arsenio we just want to point out at least you're in good company.” Williams continued, explaining that the newscast last year left New Hampshire off a map and on Tuesday the broadcast misspelled Philadelphia on-screen.

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(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

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