Brian Williams Takes Heat After Comparing Obama to Richard Pryor

MSNBC anchor Brian Williams was slammed online Tuesday after comparing President Barack Obama's campaign speech for Hillary Clinton to comedian Richard Pryor.

During an interruption in the live feed from the event in Charlotte, North Carolina, Williams talked about what had happened so far, saying, "The president was being urged by one member of the crowd to preach, and he seemingly tried to. At one point borrowing almost a Richard Pryor delivery to deliver the degree of his disgust and disdain for the other side. The comments clearly aimed at Donald Trump."

Twitter lit up immediately, and many folks were not happy with the comparison, some saying it was racist or represented "white privilege."

Brian Williams refers to Richard Prior while summarizing Prez Obama's wrap up proves his white privilege and ineptness.

— Rick Jenkins (@Rickiejay) July 5, 2016

Someone says "preach" during President Obama's speech & Brian Williams' mind turns to Richard Pryor. I can't stop thinking about this. #wtf

— IndependentVoter (@KGvote) July 5, 2016

Has Brian Williams offered a faux apology to Potus yet?

— Corey B. King (@coreybking) July 5, 2016

As of Tuesday night, Williams had not responded – at least on Twitter. But his verified account says he hasn't tweeted anything yet.

Williams was suspended last year as anchor of "NBC Nightly News" over untrue claims he made about being shot at while covering the Iraq War. He was moved to cable news channel MSNBC where he covers breaking news, such as the joint Obama-Clinton appearance.

Variety reported that MSNBC also declined to comment on the latest Williams controversy.

Related Stories:

• Scarborough Thanks Boss on Air for MSNBC Cancellations
• Brian Williams: Ego Drove Me To Exaggerate