The local news presenter, Leon Harris, will leave NBC4 Washington forever, more than four months after initial moved away from the station after a transmission in what fought powerfully.
The lifetime journalist described the departure on Tuesday as a “difficult decision” that he made with his “health and family” in mind after he became a headline for all the wrong reasons on an unstable segment of the Thanksgiving Day.
“Many of you have asked me in recent months,” he said in a statement on the NBC Washington website.
“As you know, I took a free time to concentrate on my health and my family. After more than 40 years of work without stopping and dramatic changes in the news and television industry, I have made the difficult decision to get away from my role in NBC4.”
Harris, 63, was at the local station for eight years. He previously worked for 21 years in the morning programs of CNN and another 14 years in WJLA, according to the biography of his station.
He covered the main news events, including the bombing of Oklahoma City, OJ Simpson’s trial and the terrorist attacks of September 11.
“We are rewarding for the eight years of Leon’s service to our writing room,” NBC4 Washington said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We thank you for your commitment to our community, dedication to journalism, hard work and friendship. We will miss it and we want it to be nothing more than the best.”
Harris, who has been dealing with alcohol and health abuse problems in the past, faced uncomfortable questions about the Thanksgiving News segment in which he doubted sometimes and ran into the words in the air.
The station said that at that time it was a free time to concentrate on un specified health problems.
Previously, Harris talked about his battle against alcohol in March 2022 after he had trouble crashing into another car while driving under the influence.
He also faced a great health scare in 2013 when he was diagnosed with necrotizing pancreatitis and almost died.
“My pancreas basically decided to start dying and generate my kidneys, my lungs and other internal organists along with him,” he told CNN more than a month after the medical episode of fear.
No more information was revealed about Harris’s departure from the NBC affiliate on Tuesday.
“This is the right time to prioritize my health and my family,” he said in his Tuesday statement.
“A special thanks to my incredible clubs, friends and especially to our spectators who welcomed me to their homes. It is a bone honor. Thank you.”
