Billy Bush to host new TV show, first gig since Trump scandal
Billy Bush appears headed back to TV this fall.
People is reporting that Bush will host “Extra Extra,” a new version of the current syndicated entertainment show, “Extra,” currently hosted by Mario Lopez. (Lopez is rumored to be headed to another entertainment show.)
“We all have to be able to evolve as we grow,” Bush, 47, told People. “The guy that left the scene in 2016 was already a changed person [since 2005], but I had the opportunity to grow up a little bit. Facing adversity in some way is good. And I feel I’ll be better at my job than I ever was. This is my next step.”
In 2016 Bush was fired from NBC and the Today Show after a tape from a 2005 “Access Hollywood” interview surfaced of him speaking with then-“Apprentice” star Donald Trump, who boasted about groping and kissing women.
“It was a bad moment. And I was in it. But one moment doesn’t define your life,” Bush said to the magazine of the leaked tape.
Trump went on to win the presidency. Bush was out of show business.
Bush pushed back against the president, who was saying that it wasn’t him on the tape, in a 2017 column in The New York Times, where he wrote “President Trump is currently indulging in some revisionist history, reportedly telling allies, including at least one United States senator, that the voice on the tape is not his. This has hit a raw nerve in me.”
“Extra Extra” is set to premiere Sept. 9. on Fox stations.
Frank Carnevale is the TribLive multimedia editor. He started at the Trib in 2016 and has been part of several news organizations, including the Providence Journal and Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at fcarnevale@triblive.com.
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