Billy Bush has returned to television almost three years after the Access Hollywood tape scandal, a kind of "reckoning" he now says he needed.
Bush, who was fired from Today in 2016 after a 2005 tape emerged in which he laughs along as Donald Trump brags about groping women, on Monday night returned to TV as the host of Extra, addressing the scandal on his first show by saying he's now "going again" after having fallen "into a nasty rabbit hole for about a year in a half." On Tuesday, he spoke further about the situation in an interview with CBS This Morning.
"I was due for some kind of reckoning in my life," Bush told CBS, adding that "I don't think I'd ever really been through anything difficult" prior to his high-profile firing.
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Bush went on to say that before the scandal, "I think I needed to grow up a bit, even though I was in my 40s," although as an example of his growing up, he cited now being less angry when things go "wrong." Arguing he had "grown and evolved" even between the tape being recorded and released, he was sure to point out that "this is almost 2020, 15 years later," and that the scandal was ultimately about President Trump.
"If he was not running for president, that moment would have never occurred," Bush said. "That was about him, not me." Bush also argued that the tape, which he says everyone at NBC was aware of, was "weaponized," again de-emphasizing his role by saying, "I got taken out, but I wasn't the target."
Now, Bush says he's "grateful" to be back on TV, previewing his brand new interviewing style by saying he hopes to sit down with "people who have been through something" and assuring them he won't be "super judgey." Brendan Morrow
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