Mike Bloomberg could have given every American $1 million for the $500 million he spent on campaign ads?

No, not really.

However, Brian Williams highlighted a tweet on MSNBC Thursday claiming just that.

“When I read it tonight on social media, it kind of all became clear,” Williams said, reading the text of the tweet, posted Tuesday by journalist Mekita Rivas.

“Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads,” he said. “U.S. population is 327 million. Don’t tell us if you’re ahead of us on the math. He could have given each American $1 million dollars and had lunch money left over. It’s an incredible way of putting it.”

“It’s an incredible way of putting it,” agreed New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay, Williams’ guest on his show, “The 11th Hour.”

Brian Williams just shared this on screen like it was accurate, and did it with enough confidence he had me pulling out a calculator and thinking *I* was tripping. pic.twitter.com/YtUfV0LuqX — Jay Smooth (@jsmooth995) March 6, 2020

“It’s true, it’s disturbing,” Gay said. “It does suggest what we’re talking about here, which is there’s too much money in politics."

Williams, who grew up in Middletown, was roasted for the claim on Twitter after viewers began to point out the math error in the tweet. On the show, Gay first referenced the claim in the tweet before Williams pointed to its contents.

“I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people,” Rivas said in her original tweet. “Yet he wasted it all on ads and STILL LOST.”

By Friday morning, Williams was trending along with “$327 trillion," after people started calculating the amount of money Bloomberg would need in order to deliver $1 million to 327 million people.

With $500 million, Bloomberg could have given $1 million to 500 people.

I’m always paranoid about math when reporting numbers, but it’s shocking this made it to TV and nobody noticed the glaring error pic.twitter.com/lCIX4Y9jpn — Tom Warren (@tomwarren) March 6, 2020

Williams had addressed the mistake later in the broadcast.

“While I have you both and our audience paying attention, turns out Mara and I got the same grades at math," he said. “I’m speaking of the tweet we both misinterpreted. He could give each American $1. Again, I didn’t have it in high school. I don’t have it tonight. I stand corrected. Sorry about that. The tweet is wrong."

Inevitably, criticism of Williams over the error migrated to cracks about the former “NBC Nightly News” anchor’s claim of being in a helicopter that was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during the Iraq War.

Tonight on the air we quoted a tweet that relied on bad math. We corrected the error after the next commercial break and have removed it from later editions of tonight’s program. We apologize for the error. — 11th Hour (@11thHour) March 6, 2020

Williams, 60, apologized in 2015 for “misremembering” his experience during the invasion of Iraq — he later said he had been riding in a helicopter that was not hit — and was suspended from his job before leaving NBC for MSNBC.

The former managing editor of “Nightly News" had blamed his false claims on a conflation of memories.

What is wrong with these people? This would be right here if there were 327 people in the US. And this reflects horribly on the NY Times too. Can someone stop and think for two seconds? pic.twitter.com/kZJYYoC6gD — Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) March 6, 2020

leave brian williams alone his math skills haven’t been the same ever since his helo got hit by that rpg https://t.co/ZgZOTLODut — my pal andy (@andylevy) March 6, 2020

The bio for Rivas’ Twitter account, which is currently set to private, reads: “I know, I’m bad at math."

“Buying a calculator, brb," Gay tweeted Friday in response to the on-air error.

“Please buy two,” Williams tweeted via the “11th Hour” account. “I am away today but luckily Steve Kornacki is filling in for me tonight — so our math game will be strong. We all feel terrible and regret the error.”

Buying a calculator, brb 🙈 — Mara Gay (@MaraGay) March 6, 2020

Please buy two. I am away today but luckily Steve Kornacki is filling in for me tonight — so our math game will be strong. We all feel terrible and regret the error. - BW https://t.co/UR5GC6bWSo — 11th Hour (@11thHour) March 6, 2020

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.