Lester Holt Forced to Flee NBC Nightly News 75th Anniversary Party to Anchor Trump Indictment Special Report

By A.J. Katz 

CNN may be sucking up the majority of the media news oxygen this week, but NBC News is also making news. It’s celebrating the 75th anniversary of its flagship evening newscast, NBC Nightly News.

There was the Hollywood Reporter profile on anchor Lester Holt that published earlier in the week, the unveiling of a new logo and on-air graphics on Thursday (they’ll show up on screen beginning with the June 19 broadcast), followed by a party hosted by Holt and NBCU News Group chairman Cesar Conde later that evening.

About 150 people across media, entertainment, business, politics and NBCUniversal News Group anchors gathered to celebrate the newscast last night at the Peacock Lounge at 30 Rock, including Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, newly-named NBCU CEO Mike Cavanagh, Steven Spielberg, John Leguizamo, Hoda Kotb, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, Symone Sanders, Jose Diaz-Balart, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Kristen Welker and Amb. Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

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The event opened with Nightly News airing on screens throughout the venue. Holt and Nightly News executive producer Meghan Rafferty joined the party after the broadcast.

A presentation of Nightly News’ 75-year history ran across the screens, and shortly after, as speeches were about to begin, breaking news happened in the form of a Trump indictment. Conde delivered remarks, and right before Holt took the mic, he became aware of the news. Meanwhile, Nightly News’ producers rushed back to the control room.

Holt, who pushed his planned remarks aside to return to the anchor desk for a Special Report, said, “I have some remarks prepared, and not to be hyperbolic, but there is some pretty major breaking news…But what we do is a labor of love every night. We honor the integrity and the tradition of integrity and excellence…And it is our North Star on this broadcast.”

Other figures spotted: Rebecca Blumenstein; Andrea Mitchell; Chuck Todd; Rashida Jones; Jim Cramer; Katy Tur; Laura Jarrett; Meghan Rafferty; Valerie Jarrett; Janelle Rodriguez; Neal Shapiro; Sherrie Westin; Claire McCaskill; Lawrence O’Donnell; Stephanie Ruhle; Becky Quick; Al Sharpton; David Faber; Joe Kernen; Almar Latour.

 

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