Bush begins Monday as host of the revamped pop culture news show, Extra. He was a rising star just hired as a host on the Today show when tape emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign of him laughing to lewd remarks made by Donald Trump before an appearance on Access Hollywood 11 years earlier. Following an outcry, Trump was elected president. Bush lost his job.
A fireball producer is giving him a comeback chance while also trying to revive the tired celebrity news genre. It’s Bush’s first TV job since the infamous Access Hollywood tape.
Billy Bush will be the new host of Warner Bros.’ rebranded news magazine Extra Extra as the show heads over to Fox-owned stations in seven major markets — including New York and Los Angeles — when it starts season 26 on Sept. 9.
Exclusives
Stephen Colbert didn’t let Bush, in his first televised interview since the infamous Access Hollywood tape became public, get away with an easy self-exoneration.
Seven months after the infamous “grab them by the pussy” recording got Bush fired (and nearly toppled Trump’s White House run), the former Today host goes public with what happened on that bus, the people who knew about the tape, how he broke the “awful” news to his daughters and his bold comeback move: “I plan to return to the job that I love.”
Fox was busy today knocking down a story that it had selected the exiled Billy Bush to host its Top 30 newsmagazine, which is set to debut this fall. Bush has not been seen since losing his Today Show job last year after an audio tape of a bus ride he took with Trump emerged.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former “Today” co-host Billy Bush says he’s a better man and ready to get back into television seven months after being fired from his job at […]
Donald Trump said that the 2005 Access Hollywood recording in which he makes lewd remarks to co-host Billy Bush was “illegal,” telling Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that he was considering legal action. The leak of the tape earlier this month was a bombshell in the campaign, forcing him to make a rare videotaped apology and to address it at the second presidential debate.
NBC wasn’t talking Tuesday about potential replacements for Bush. Harry Connick Jr., the musician who launched his own syndicated talk show this fall, filled in Monday and Tuesday. Actors Christian Slater and Eric Dane are booked as guest hosts later this week. There’s no word on whether any of them would be interested in a permanent job, although Today made a point Tuesday of giving Hall a trivia quiz on Connick’s career — a getting-to-know-you step that seemed odd for a short-timer.
NBC made the announcement of his firing in a note from Today show top executive Noah Oppenheim to his staff. Oppenheim called Bush, who spent 15 years at NBCU’s syndicated Access Hollywood, ”a valued colleague and longtime member of the broader NBC family. We wish him success as he goes forward.”
NBC is about to pay millions of dollars to Billy Bush to stop hosting the 9 a.m. hour of Today. Bush’s exit from NBC could be announced as early as today, another person with knowledge of the negotiations said.
Billy Bush’s exit from NBC News isn’t going to be as amicable as many thought it would be. The embattled Today show host, who has been suspended for his role in the lewd Donald Trump tape recorded in 2005 when Bush was an anchor at Access Hollywood, has hired a prominent Los Angeles litigator to help work out his separation from the network. And that lawyer is now going on the attack.
His exit from the Today show is now a matter of “when,” not “if,” according to two sources with knowledge of the negotiations. One of the sources said his departure will be announced “in the coming days.”
Billy Bush has been suspended from the Today show “pending further review of the matter.” It is unclear if he will ever return to the broadcast. “He will never be on the show again,” an on-air source said Sunday night, reflecting what staffers are saying behind the scenes. A second source at the network confirmed Monday that his return is unlikely.
Today Executive Producer Noah Oppenheim said in a memo Sunday that “there is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape.” Bush, who hosts the third hour of NBC’s Today, has been suspended “pending further review of the matter,” Oppenheim said.
Donald Trump tried to head off some of the damage Friday by issuing a statement apologizing if “anyone was offended” by vulgar remarks captured in a 2005 video and made public Friday for the first time. In the recording obtained by The Washington Post and NBC News, Trump describes trying to have sex with a married woman and brags about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous.
Finally confirming the worst kept secret in TV news, NBC News today announced Billy Bush would join its morning program Today in the 9 a.m. hour. He’ll begin his new stint during the Olympics in August.
NBC is bringing one of its longtime stars onboard Today. After months of speculation, Access Hollywood Live host Billy Bush is set to join the morning show, multiple sources say. A formal announcement about Bush’s new gig is expected to be made at NBC’s annual upfront presentation on May 16.
Both morning shows are down in viewership this season, but the ABC franchise is down far more, as the pecking order realigns and NBC courts Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush for the 9 a.m. host job.
