Video: ‘NBC Nightly News’ pays tribute to Lester Holt on last day

May 30, 2025, marked Lester Holt’s last day on “NBC Nightly News” and the network sent him off with a tribute package highlighting his tenure on the program.

The package ran during the final block of “Nightly” and was intro’d by Holt with a collage of still imagery from his time at “Nightly” shown on the video wall behind him. The shot also features an overlay with a slightly curved frame for showcasing additional imagery that was designed to appear to be peeking up behind the anchor desk NBC parks behind Holt for the top and bottom of the broadcast.

Members of Holt’s family and members of the “Nightly” team then entered the space, though it appeared some erroneous lighting cues were called up at this point, making it difficult to see some of them. Earlier, there was also an odd glitch that appeared to involve the graphics and, possibly, the extended reality system.

The broadcast also still featured a full slate of news coverage, including running its full headlines segment. Holt did mention his final broadcast as the final element of that.

On WMAQ in Chicago, which is owned by NBC, the station noted Holt’s final broadcast in its 5:30 p.m. newscast outro before tossing to network and at the top of the 6 p.m. newscast that immediately followed Holt’s sign-off. Holt previously worked in the Chicago market for CBS-owned WBBM.

Stefan Holt, one of the primary anchors at WMAQ, is Holt’s son and traveled to New York for his dad’s final broadcast, appearing on-camera inside Studio 1A just before the network ran the tribute package.