As we learned on Sunday night – and discussed yesterday – Billy Bush has been suspended indefinitely from the Today Show following the release of that disgusting Trump Tape. I don’t even remember him moving from Access Hollywood to Today, but it happened and now here we are. NBC never misses an opportunity to employ men who are vile to and about women. What was interesting about the suspension announcement was that everything seemed very, very vague. NBC didn’t even say that they were conducting some kind of in-house review or investigation, and it’s totally possible that Bush’s suspension will be over as soon as the election is over. But! It seems like Billy Bush wasn’t that popular anyway and now all of the women of NBC News are actively hoping he gets sh-tcanned.
The Today show has been rocked by the recent Billy Bush/Donald Trump controversy. A source tells PEOPLE the atmosphere around set Monday morning feels “surreal” after Bush’s suspension following the leak of a tape in which the star made lewd comments about women while filming a segment with Trump for Access Hollywood in 2005.
The source says there are lots of “gossipy conversations” about Bush flying around set of the NBC talk show, and that the prevailing attitude is that they don’t want him to come back, especially the women. According to the insider, Bush, 44, “hasn’t really endeared himself to the rest of the cast and crew anyway, so they’re fine with him leaving, if that’s what the decision is.”
“Ever since [Ryan] Lochte, a lot of people have thought that he was a liability anyway,” says the insider. “Tamron [Hall] doesn’t like him and they have always been uncomfortable around each other. Al [Roker] doesn’t speak to him, like at all. There is no love lost there. Matt [Lauer] is okay with him, not friends, but okay. He doesn’t have much of a relationship with Savannah [Guthrie]. So it won’t be a loss to any of them personally if he doesn’t come back.”
“The network and producers are going to have to decide if he’s such a liability that they have to take stronger action,” adds the source. “Does anyone tune in to Today to watch Billy? Probably not really. So if he leaves, it’s not a big deal.”
And while the source says they would hate to see Bush fired for something he said 11 years ago, this is “more than that.”
“The feeling is, ‘Is he so compromised that he can’t be a neutral journalist? Can people see him as being a professional?’ ” says the source. “It really seems like it’s time for him to go. We’re all waiting to see what happens.”
“Is he so compromised that he can’t be a neutral journalist?” Um, did anyone think of him as a journalist anyway? I realize Today falls under the NBC News division, but let’s not mistake Billy Bush for a real journalist. As for Tamron Hall, Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie not really liking him… do they want a cookie? I don’t get it. Why the bitchy Mean Girl act? Why does every story about Today’s journalists sound like the mutterings of a middle school cafeteria? As for the corporate whatever of NBC… yeah, just fire him, for the love of God. If you can sh-tcan Ann Curry over next to nothing, you can surely fire Billy Bush FOR CAUSE. And make no mistake, Billy Bush will “fall up.” If and when he’s fired from NBC, he’ll get tons of job offers and he’ll probably find a home at Fox News. Oh, and Us Weekly has a source claiming that “Tamron Hall, Matt Lauer and Al Roker strongly dislike Bush.” Whatever.
People Mag has another story about how Bush is devastated and he feels like someone at NBC has it out for him. Bush also hoped that the tape would be released with his voice edited out, which might be an explanation for why NBC was sitting on the video for four days before someone leaked it to the Washington Post. That’s the part that interests me way more than the “woe is Billy Bush” aspect of this story – who leaked the tape to WaPo and why? Why did NBC sit on the tape?
Here’s Billy with two of his daughters:
Photos courtesy of WENN.
How does his extended family feel about nephew/cousin Billy right now?
I mean…the family are no strangers to stooges.
Doesn’t he do Access Hollywood? Journalist is a loosely used word for him, exa fly what credentials does he have? Let him go.
I bet Jeb! wants to smack him in the head for not telling about this tape last year when it could have knocked Trump out of the race.
Jeb must be cussing him out for not sharing this campaign gold back when he needed it.
I thought the same thing!…”how you gonna do me like that, cuz?!”
as for the “much worse” stuff from the Apprentice…Mark Burnett (the one who is threatening any former staffer who thought about releasing any footage) says that he doesn’t “own” the tapes and has no control over their release, which means that NBC and release them if they want to.
they need to do the right thing.
I’M mad that he didn’t leak this earlier. You mean all we had to do to not have Trump as the Republican candidate was leak this tape?
I don’t like Jeb but at least he was qualified.
Billy can get fired pronto though. He is grooooooss.
All of the Bushes are voting for Hillary, not sure how they feel about Billy.
All but Jeb’s son, George P., that turncoat. George P went of record to support Orangino. George P would be the first person Orangino will kick over the boarder since he’s half hispanic.
There’s a compilation tape on the web of all the creepy, lewd parts of interviews he’s done with women. Meh! I hope he gets fired and can only assume the ‘review’ is some kind of legal wrangling.
And I guarantee there are other interviews in other vaults with other male “journalists” caught on tape or film talking like this. Lots and lots of men talk like this (and much worse) about women. It’s a symptom of a bigger disease that is seeing a woman’s life/value in direct proportion to her physical/sexual attractiveness.
@Noway: I don’t agree, though I see where you’re coming from. If Bush had been nervously giggling and not knowing what to do, it had been a different matter.
Billy not only laughed with him, he actually went further than what Trump expected at the moment.
Desperately trying to score points by serving this woman on a platter to someone who had just bragged about doing whatever he liked to women because he was famous. Billy Bush abused this knowledge and power to shame her into hugging.
Abusing power is not ‘part of any job’, but the exact opposite.
There’s another audio from the Howard stern show where trump is bragging about dressing room rights when he owned the beauty pageant. Just grose. It’s not like Howard stern held him to better conduct. Plus if journalists associated w this POS get fired then no one will cooperate for more information.
Bush SHOULD rightfully get fired but I just can’t get past how much it GALLS me that this guy could get fired, but the GOP presidential candidate faces no real repercussions, beyond the obvious detriment to his campaign.
Do Trump-supporters get this at all? This guy may get FIRED from his irrelevant job on a tabloid news show for his behavior, but sure let’s hire a guy who did the same shit (but worse, really) to be the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Ugh. It just blows my mind.
I see what your saying, but to be fair, I actually think Billy was the worse of the two on that tape. Trump’s words were gross but he didn’t actually move on that woman until Billy shamed her into hugging him. In my opinion, him taking it from words to actions was much more disgusting. UGH that part of the clip will haunt me. Just because I totally know how that feels to feel coerced into hugging someone you don’t want to touch but it’s awkward not too. UGHHHHHH *inner cringe*
Oh pinetree, Billy was gross to be sure but seriously, to hear those words coming out of the mouth of someone so close to the presidency is beyond appalling. Can you imagine Obama, McCain, Romney, most of those guy using those words? Never in a million years. And honestly if Obama said them he would have been vilified beyond anything Trump has had to take. He would have been destroyed.
Really asking for a hug and a kiss, although creepy in the context, is worse than saying because you are a celebrity you can do what you want including grabbing a woman by the p(*&*(!!!!! Seriously, what has become with the world!!!
Bush is a doof and an entertainment interviewer. Today should have fired him for being an entertainment interviewer. He really didn’t fit. Still in Billy’s defense, with all the self entitled celebrities you sometimes have to suck it up to them to get them to be your “friend” and give you anything, granted he went way too far agreeing and cajoling, but it was a bit of the job. Not sure what Trump’s excuse is, except he is an entitled rich creep.
There’s news now that he will be leaving Today in the coming days. There was supposed to be a party for him this coming weekend, but it got cancelled. So, yay? Not fired but off air.
And Nancy O’Dell released another great statement.
He is s sorry he is in trouble but he does not seem very sorry for his part in this tape. He knew they were being recorded so he could have at least tried to tamp Trump down or change the subject to make himself sound better, even if he agreed with trump.mi have no sympathy for him at all. What we do matters and choices have consequences
I have no sympathy either he is in television and this is what happens, but I would say he may not have known it was being recorded. They put mics on early, and sometimes they aren’t on, but other times they are.
Ugh. What a stand up role model for his daughters.
That’s what upsets me so much about this. He had daughters when this happened. Is it ok with him is someone was talking about grabbing one of his daughters by the p****”??
This reminds me of a story about a dad of kids I grew up with. He bragged to a group of other dads one time about his oldest, a son, who was scoring left and right and having sex with all these girls at his high school. He was really proud about his son”s conquests. I guess the other dads were pretty disgusted and one of them said, what if someone talked about your daughters (he has two) the way you are talking about these other girls? That shut him up quickly as he hadn’t even thought about his daughters in that context.
They are the ones I feel sorry for. Can you imagine hearing your father say such things? That would be bad enough, but having it be a huge story like this is even worse.
It’s not just the things he said that bother me (although, ugh), it’s the way he casually told that poor actress to give Donald and then himself a hug after that gross conversation. He’ll survive this one tho. There’s always a place at the table for douches like him.
He’ll survive. He has extremely powerful connections.
And referred to himself as “Bushy”
Blech gross!
I know. And then he tries to blame it on age…he was 33! His part in that tape was stomach-turning.
That, for me, was the grossest part because it was their predatory, entitled behavior on display. It’s not just talk.
YAASSS!!! I posted above before seeing this. That was the part of the tape that bothered me. EW! I hate that we as women are socially conditioned this way. I would have hugged them too because I would have felt so awkward to say no even though I wouldn’t have wanted to. When really we should just be like, “How about a nice professional handshake instead?” Ugh, just ugh. I feel for her so much in that clip. And then to now know what they were saying beforehand. UGH!!! SO MUCH CRINGE
Every woman has had/felt obligated to hug someone they weren’t comfortable with. It makes my skin crawl. We don’t owe any man that ‘respect’. I’m so depressed with humanity right now.
When I was going into middle school, my mom told me to never write down anything you do not want to come back to haunt you later. I think this falls into that category. I know we have all said and done things that we would likely be embarrassed about or ashamed of, but this whole idea of how BB and Trump were just so young and dumb that they did not know what they were saying is just crap. They were grown men making disgusting comments about women. In the clip that was released BB sounds like he is about to hump the bus as he watches Arianne Zucker walking towards them.
They aren’t ashamed though. They’ve chalked it up to being younger, locker room talk and so on and so forth. I find Billy, in a position where he is interviewing women/actresses/up and comers. Who knows how many “hugs” he tries to weasel? Who is to say this behavior was just for Trump?
John Oliver compiled afew clips of this guy being creepy around female interviewees and colleagues. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dnsgqU80eIw
Spoiler alert: Its all appalling but for me the second worst is from 0:37 when he is miming stroking Olivia Munns breasts in a low cut top and she is clearly uncomfortable. Seriously, watch his hands. The absolute worst is when he asks a young Beiber who his fav Disney starlet is and when Beiber says Selena Gomez, Billy Bush responds with “I knew you liked them dark and exotic”.
Oh and he refers to himself as Uncle Bushy.
That video is gross. He’s a pocket size creeper with liability written on his forehead. Hes the guy with 3 kids, owns plumbing supply company in Dayton Ohio, who hits on you in an airport bar by showing you his watch. The guy in a bar who says “ever ridden in a Acura before? Heh heh heh” or some budget ass nonsense. Just gross.
Wow, Naya, thanks for posting that. What a creep. I’m sure all the women at the today show must be relieved he is at least temporarily gone.
Naya, he (John Oliver) has complained about people taking his show or clips of his show and putting it up on Youtube. He has a channel that can be linked to where people can watch his videos. Just an FYI for those people who may not be aware.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3XTzVzaHQEd30rQbuvCtTQ
@naya thanks for those videos it’s always lovely to get a nice cross reference of how awful people are! 💙
HAHAHAHA..”journalist” HAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! Good one.
One of the things that I find most annoying is the “But I thought they would edit out my voice!!!”. God, it’s like you can actually hear him whining about it.
He may be right about someone having it out for him-Matt Lauer is probably jealous that there is someone younger and thirstier than he is hanging around the set.
Like I said yesterday-all NBC is going to do is lay low until after the election and depending on how it goes, he will either go right back to business as usual (Trump win) or they’ll just out him back on Entertainment Tonight or something (Hilary win). They’re not going to fire him. Worst case scenario for him is as suggested above by Kaiser-they’ll dangle him in front of Fox News and see if they want to buy out his contract.
Totally!!! Billy Bush and Journalist in the same sentence, never. And that he hoped the tape would have his voice edited out, tee hee.
He sounds like a whiny little 44 year old brat. I agree with your prediction about how NBC is going to handle him.
I still don’t get the whole story of who released this tape and how, I’m curious.
From what I understand, the tape was going to be released to Access Hollywood after the debate Sunday. That was to be edited to monimize Bush’s role in it.
Then…someone who worked there usurped that plan with a devious one of their own and STOLE the tape and leaked it to the Washington Post, who then handled it like a hot potatoe and served us some mashed up Billy and Trump.
I consider those entertainment ‘news’ shows as little more than PR support staff or just adult aged cheerleaders, not journalists.
It is so unfair that he was suspended indefinitely (deservedly so) and Trump gets to go on being the Republican Party nominee. Any other candidate would have been removed but the human dorito gets to stay on the ticket!
He’s still on the ticket because it’s too late to remove him.
That’s not how this works. Sadly. I’d love to see Trump off the ballot but there is really no efficient way to remove him if he refuses to go, and it’s too late to get him off the ballot now.
Two more a$$holes. So many men just suck.
Ugh him asking for a hug after that hideous discussion with Trump made my flesh crawl. It reminded me of every time a man has made me uncomfortable and I’ve gone along with it not knowing how to get out of the situation. He’s vile.
Yep, I totally agree. I hate how I’ve tolerated things like bosses putting their hands on the small of my back to “walk me” somewhere or hugs from people that made my skin crawl just because it’s so socially awkward to get out of.
There is a video of Al going OFF on Billy. I haven’t watched it, but I did read the article. He says Billy is no more than “infotainment” how hilarious!
ETA LINK
https://www.google.com/amp/www.thewrap.com/al-roker-rips-billy-bush-infotainment-nothing-nothing-less-video/amp/
Those drink stirring GIFs from the Olympics coverage are hilarious. You can tell Al is livid with him.
Christin: HILARIOUS! It was like KLINK KLINK “are You kidding me??” STIR STIR KLINK KLINK “Billy. He LIED!” KLINK STIR KLINK STIR
Ending with the BEST FACE EVER.
My favorite video from the summer is still when he called Lochte out for being a liar when Bush is trying to say “oh he just embellished” And the angry drink stirring. It made my impression of Al Roker go up quite a bit.
http://t2.cafe.com/post/149425760550/al-roker-and-billy-bush-got-heated-over-ryan
I just heard on the radio (I live in NYC) that the reason that tape was found was because Billy Bush himself bragged during the Olympics that there was audio of Trump being “a real dog.” If that’s true, then Bush has only himself to blame.
He was on the job when he laughed and added his own comments. Imagine a co-worker out of earshot verbally supporting this type of smack about a co-worker and other women who are attempting to work with them.
Billy never tried to change the subject. Well, until he spotted the actress and wanted another lady to get out of his viewing range. ‘Oof’ Billy, you need a break to think about your behavior.
I totally get it. Just looking at him makes me want to punch him so can you imagine working with him? My blood just doesn’t take to him.
He looks so much like 43 that I want to slap that smirk off his face. Ugh.
I totally think that he’s going to get fired. The NY Post has been reporting that he was a bad fit there and wasn’t getting along with his coworkers since his time on The Today Show started. There have also been reports that viewers are unhappy with Tamron and Al also, and that since Willie Geist and Natalie Morales left, viewership has suffered. If any of that is true, they can’t afford to hold onto Billy. If they actually do fire him, I think it’ll be a question of saving their own asses in an effort to avoid losing viewers, not because they actually care about misogyny. Let’s not forget how engrained in NBC Trump once was. They knew who he was, but they didn’t care.
Also, I forgot how horribly wrong they did Ann Curry- That was so ugly!!! Shout out to Al Roker for being the voice of truth on that show, because he called them out for “throwing Ann under the bus”
The Show doesn’t need to be on that many hours to begin with. It is overkill at this point. Especially with Kathie lee and Hoda.
I think “Bushy” is a liability at this point. The main audience for these shows are women. I heard that a lot of women went off on Billy on his facebook page since this thing blew up. A lot are saying they are going to watch GMA. So I’m sure NBC execs are listening.
Its extremely disheartening that ANY man (or woman) defending and excusing sexual assault as “locker room talk.” They are basically telling us that all men are rapists. Trump is not only hurting women (physically and figuratively) he is hurting men as well. Women are objects and men are rapists. Thats Trump for you. And now he wants to put a Scalia type as Supreme Court Judge. Women should REALLY be scared at this point. Gays as well. Women & gays should really vote. Men too, if they give any s*its about us.
I bet his wife is not happy at all.
regarding the tapes from The Apprentice; Burnett said he couldn’t release the tapes. I think this has to do with some legal thing between Donald and the Show. Burnett said he was not a Trump supporter. I think they are friends though. It sounded like he would release them if he could but his hands are legally tied.
I also think Billy Bush knew he was on tape right along with Donald. I believe he like many entertainment people save stuff like that for another time. Otherwise why put yourself in that position.
I like Tamron Hall a lot. I’ve liked her since her MSNBC days. Speaking of MSNBC, whatever happened to Allison Stewart?
I like her, too- she’s really talented & mentally quick on camera. Gorgeous, too.
I think she’s at CBS? Side note–she’s married to prouder Bill Wolff wo used to do Rachel maddow’s show and left for The View
It’s been apparent that Billy ( what grown man goes by “billy” by the way ) is a terrible fit from the get go. He’s had more than a few “what the!? ” moments than I can count. This scandal is a blessing that NBC is going to quickly capitalize on….
I was wondering if ‘Billy’ was part of his shtick. He wears a lot of juvenile baseball caps, bright colored sneakers & backpacks. I saw a pic of him the other day coming off the airplane in all this debacle and I was like “hey- he stole my 5-yr-old’s outfit! Where’s the snuggle puppy for the plane ride…..” I think he fancies himself cute and adorable which worked for a long time but he’s a grown man now and it’s a little uncomfortable imo.
Predator wear.
The schadenfreude is delicious here, yeah? What do white men love more than being told that they’re indispensable to society? And here he’s being told that his contribution is “meh” at best. Beautiful
No, no one’s tuning in to the Today Show for Billy Bush. I doubt they were tuning into Access Hollywood for him either, but he worked his connections like a champ to be promoted. But that’s the problem: When you get your jobs based on your name, no one’s going to be there to stand up for you when things go wrong. It’s amazing how much people legitimately despise Billy Bush. He *might* end up at Fox News, but the man has no audience of his own and if they take him they look like they’re just taking major networks castoffs.
You know, the Very Smart Brothas had an excellent post about how guys who talk like this are the psycho pervs in the locker room that nobody wants anything to do with. Maybe ole “Bushy” is a real perv and his co-workers just don’t want any part of him.
NBC continues to make mistake after mistake with its Today Show.
Billy Bush came aboard during the Olympics. They should have NOT let Natalie Morales go to CA to be on Access Hollywood. Billy Bush was a bad choice for “Today’s Take.” Al, Tamron and Billy have NO chemistry at all. Now this tape? He should be fired.
Willie Geist should replace Matt Lauer. It’s time. Maybe next year? Matt will be in the co-anchor for 20 yrs.! The longest ever! The debate debacle should’ve been the last straw. I’m happy for Willie and his new show on Sunday but he needs to come back to the Today Show ASAP.
Savannah Gutrie should stay – a surprising pick who works out. She can make silly jokes but also she’s also a clever attorney. No Hoda. Please!
I’ll always love Al Roker but it’s time for him to retire too. Dylan Dreyer should replace him.
I would love to watch Willie Geist and Craig Melvin in the morning. They would be my dream pairing, with Savannah, Dylan and Tamron on the side.
I would really love to know how this all went down. The real journalists at NBC News must be livid that they got scooped by the Washington Post on their own damn story.
The ny times covered this..evidently the nbc brass handed it to the legal dept, who shuffled it around for some time. There was a good la times article that sounded like the same thing was happening to mgm/burnett over the apprenticeship tapes.
THE Billy Bush should come out and explain that he has been an a$$ kisser for years and that was a huge part of his job. He had to pander to meat heads and act sexist, like them, since that was part of what he was expected to do in his job- like women are expected to flirt or be sexy when they don’t want to be. He was used & abused and it was disgusting and he is ashamed of his role in toxic masculinity in our society. He would like it to change. Women should be treated as equals and men should start speaking out when they see sexism and not join in. And for our news organizations to stop pandering to people in sick ways for stories and start being real journalists (like ones who would have released the tape asap & not altered it). He sees this as an opportunity to make some real change- for his daughters and everyone.
Other then that he can go sit on it.
You have to watch Trevor Noah’s take. YES.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd9qgyIi0z8
Eh I totally get why Al wouldn’t like him after the Ryan Lochte thing. And on that tape Trump was talking about Billy’s Access Hollywood costar Nancy O’Dell, so you see how much respect he has for his female colleagues (Nancy had to put up with creepy Pat O’Brien too, y’all remember that mess??) I don’t get the wanting a cookie comment. I think Billy is probably just awful to work with.
I have to agree with how creepy it was for him to ask that soap opera lady to hug “The Donald” after how they just talked about her.
Of course my mom is defending him saying “if you had a secret microphone on all of us, you would find horrible things said to use against anyone. This is a non story and a distraction. What about the wikileaks reveal about Hillary’s Wall Street speech?? Trump may say some not okay things, but the Clintons have done bad things. I’m sorry but I truly believe they have had people killed.” So there you go guys… a little insight into the mind of a Trump supporter (I told my mom I share this with people and she just says you Hillary supporters are birds of a feather).
Way way back, there were rumors that Nancy left because she could not stand “Bushy.” I’m not surprised he did not defend her. This really shows how much respect he had for Nancy.
On the other hand, the pic with his daughter, why does his green legs look like stumps? I never noticed this before until now.
I never liked Billy. He was a smarmy a–hole.
I read that in addition to the Lochte debacle, Billy Bush was bragging in Rio that he knew of a barn-burner of a tape of Donald Trump, which might have spurred someone to go look for it. But he didn’t contact NBC News about it directly. So (a) they’re pissed that it leaked; (b) pissed that they didn’t get the scoop — though it’s questionable whether they would have released it anyway because it made them look bad as well.
I just heard on CNN that NBC and other news sources are actively hunting for audio and transcripts*. I’ve been under the impression NBC has taken it lightly on their former reality star, but maybe they really are digging.
* Apparently there was a transcript service that covered his show’s tapings, which is where the story last night (his comments about the young singer’s skin) originated. There will likely be more uncovered, though I don’t know what else would mortify the public.
Besides the vile dehumanizing of women, though, imagine being 59, a TV star, a supposed real estate mogul and millionaire, and being that desperate to impress Billy Bush.
McKay Coppins has a really good article up (and a link to an earlier profile also worth reading) “How the Haters and Losers Lost” that really gives insight into the bottomless needy insecurity of the orange man-baby.
Great article thanks for letting me know about it.
They were all ready buddies before this 205 tape. There is a clip on their bromance out there, with dates back to 2002 of them doing the slap and tickle.
Great article! Thx Ally8
Viva “SPY” Magazine.
(‘Defamer’ and ‘Celebitchy’ used to be fun too)
Bring back Willie G!!
In the context of Orangino’s lewd comments, so many politicians have mentioned their daughters and wives and mothers and sisters… fine. But I’d like for at least one of them to say, “I have a SON and I don’t want HIM to hear these words nor to talk about women in these terms”.
THAT is the revolution we need: it’s the young boys and men who need to learn that this sexual objectification of women is unacceptable if we, as a society, are to call ourselves civilized.
I used to looove Andie when I was growing up. And she was already “not young” back then. She still looks amazing now. Beautiful woman.
On a side note, noone shuts down racist and misogynistic trolls like JK Rowling though. I am not even fan of her work, but I love seeing her tweets being RTed onto my timeline.