Billy Bush Claims He Flagged Donald Trump's Lewd ‘Access Hollywood' Comments to His Producer in 2005
'The day of the filming in 2005, I called my producer [and] said, 'You're not gonna believe what Trump said. He is going after Nancy.' All I said was 'Nancy O'Dell' because I didn't hear the other stuff,' Bush told Lowe, referencing his Access Hollywood colleague O'Dell. The 'other stuff' seemingly refers to Trump's comments about grabbing women by the genitals. 'I said, 'He's trying to take Nancy furniture shopping to sleep with her. This is crazy. He's done it again! The guy's an animal!' I report it, basically, to my superior, but it sits in a desk forever because…had that tape leaked out when it actually occurred in 2005, I would've been fired for an entirely different reason — killing NBC's cash cow. Trump was a protected, revered source. He was a hundred million dollars in profit for NBC. He was the king of the ratings.'
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At the time, Trump fronted the successful reality show The Apprentice for NBC while Bush was in his first full year as an Access Hollywood co-anchor alongside O'Dell. It wasn't until 2016, during the final weeks of Trump's first campaign for the White House, that The Washington Post published an exposé that revealed audio of what has come to be known as 'the Access Hollywood tape.' The recording features Trump, who would survive the scandal to become president of the United States two times over, bragging on a bus in 2005 about grabbing women by the genitals in audio captured off camera. 'When you're a star, they let you do it,' he is overheard saying. 'You can do anything.'
Bush could be heard laughing in the background, and his involvement in the scandal ended up costing him a job at NBC's Today. He's since recalled the incident and its fallout for The Hollywood Reporter and in a column for The New York Times, among other outlets. To Lowe, Bush also offered additional details about how NBC executives were on the hunt for clips that featured Trump speaking in a disparaging manner about women.
'NBC put out an APB, all points bulletin, on Donald Trump because there was a former [pageant queen] who came forward and said he had done something inappropriate. Donald Trump said, 'I've never said or done anything inappropriate with women ever in my life,'' Bush recalled. 'And then NBC, who hates him, sent out these messages to every division of the company: 'Do you have any tapes…what they really wanted was Mark Burnett's tape, the guy who ran The Apprentice, because there's outtakes forever — but [they asked], 'Does anyone else have anything of him talking disparagingly about women? We need this.' And my producer at the time was like, 'Holy shit. The bus ride. That tape, that was like 11 years ago. That's the time when Bush called me right after it happened.''
On Literally! With Rob Lowe, Bush said by losing his job, he lost out on his first 'really big paycheck.' He also credits a close circle, which included his brother, his pastor, Tony Robbins and celebrities like Dennis Quaid, Julie Bowen, Cindy Crawford, Eric Stonestreet, Michael Strahan, Modern Family creator Steve Levitan and Suzanne Somers, for supporting him.
'I would never have survived without them,' Bush said. 'I did everything I could think of to keep myself from jumping off the building because, Rob, I was about to get a huge paycheck, my first really big paycheck. I'm at the Today show. They still have money. They're the last thing in linear television with real money…and right back to the bottom of the hill. Or let's say the middle of the hill and then you have to keep coming back up again.'
Bush said he also remembers those people who weren't there for him at the time; though he offers advice for anyone in a similar predicament with their own friends. 'I always say pick up the phone, call, send a text: 'Hey, buddy. Thinking about you. I'm here.' Do it. Do it. If you're ever on that fulcrum where you can't decide, do it.'
Lowe's episode with Bush is part of the new season of Literally! With Rob Lowe, a set of episodes that will feature chats with such guests as Larry Charles, Roblox CEO David Baszucki, Marc Maron, Joel McHale, Daniel Dae Kim and more.
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