Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly, who had initially come to Brian Williams' defense after the NBC anchor admitted to "misremembering" his experiences in Iraq, on Monday told Jimmy Kimmel that his colleague might well lose his job over the incident.

"He made a mistake. Is it a character flaw? I don't know," O'Reilly said. "If it is, he's going to lose his job. If another one comes out, that he exaggerated a story that he reported, he's going to lose his job."

Williams admitted last week that he had not been aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by enemy fire during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. It was a claim he had made repeatedly over several years, according to Stars and Stripes.

O'Reilly revealed his own theory about what may have led to Williams' claims.

"When you come on a late night show, you don't want to be a dweeb ... A journalist will say, 'I was there,' and then a story -- to make it more dramatic and interesting -- will emerge," he said. "(Williams) embellished the story."

The Fox New host slammed critics for having been too hard on Williams,

"Every public person in this country is a target," he said. "With the Internet -- you know what it is, it's a sewer. And these people delight in seeing famous people being taken apart. I just think it's wrong. I mean, we're human beings just like everybody else."

"Internal speculation at NBC" has Williams conceding an interview to O'Reilly as part of a possible "apology tour," according to Politico. For the anchor of the network's flagship "NBC Nightly News," such an appearance would be reportedly be preferable over being grilled by direct competitors ABC or CBS, Politico argued.

O'Reilly told Kimmel that the idea intrigued him.

"Yeah, I'd talk to him about it," he said.

Questions have also arisen over comments Williams made about NBC News coverage of Hurricane Katrina, as well as concerning an armed robbery the 55-year-old has said he suffered as a teenager in Red Bank, New Jersey.

The "NBC Nightly News" anchor and managing editor announced on Saturday that he was taking a temporary leave of absence while network executives ponder his future, the Daily Mail noted.

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