‘Today’ Show Anchors Say Goodbye to Billy Bush

As expected, the end has come for Billy Bush on Today. NBC announced Bush’s suspension after a video from 2005 surfaced in which he and Donald Trump speak inappropriately about women. It was widely speculated that the suspension would eventually lead to Bush being fired, and on Monday night, that speculation was proven to be correct when NBC announced Bush’s departure.

Much like when the Today anchors announced Bush’s suspension, they only briefly mentioned his termination on Tuesday. In the first hour, Matt Lauer was the first to announce to anyone who hadn’t already heard that Bush would no longer be a part of the show.

Lauer said: “I wanna mention that NBC News announced last night that Billy Bush would be leaving the Today show effective immediately, noting that he was a valued colleague and longtime member of the broader NBC family.”

Bush also released a statement, saying, “I’m deeply grateful for the conversations I’ve had with my daughters, and for all of the support from family, friends, and colleagues. I look forward to what lies ahead.”

Bush’s former co-host on the third hour of Today, Tamron Hall, also briefly mentioned Bush in a prepared statement. Hall was also the only one from Today to allude to why Bush was being let go.

Hall said: “As you may have heard, our former co-host Billy Bush is no longer with the Today show. This comes after his involvement in an Access Hollywood taping with Donald Trump in 2005. As a longtime member of the NBC family, we wish Billy all the best as he moves forward.”

In the final segment of the show, Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb spoke about Bush’s departure and seemingly without reading a statement from a TelePrompTer. And unlike their colleagues, Gifford and Kotb had nice things to say about Bush.

“He has been a joy for us. He was only here about nine weeks and so much fun to be around. Always up for anything. A real team player. And we’re really, really going to miss him,” said Gifford.

And of course, as they like to do, Gifford and Kotb made a toast in Bush’s honor.

Actress featured in Trump/Bush video speaks out on Today:

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