Billy Bush to Return to Hosting After ‘Access Hollywood’ Tape Scandal
Billy Bush will be hosting a new series this fall.
The TV personality will host a new version of the entertainment show Extra, called Extra Extra, with “a modernized set,” and featuring pop culture, sports, and political news, People revealed Wednesday. According to Bush, this new show is giving Extra “a major facelift” at a time that entertainment news “needs” one.
Its new host has changed as well in the past two-and-a-half years. In 2016, he was fired from his job on Today after a 2005 tape leaked in which he was heard laughing at President Donald Trump, then on The Apprentice, and what Trump called “locker room talk.” Bush had been with Access Hollywood at the time.
“Looking back upon what was said on that bus, I wish I had changed the topic,” Bush told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. “I didn’t have the strength of character to do it.” He added that he became “a better man.”
He echoed that sentiment to People when speaking about his new job. While that moment on the tape was “bad … one moment doesn’t define your life,” he said. “A good wallop on the side of the head makes you, changes you, and I’m a better version of the man I was.
“We all have to be able to evolve as we grow,” Bush said, adding that he had already changed from the man he was at the time the tape was made in 2005 to when it was released in 2016. “I might have been a little too into my own world before.”
Bush will be taking over as host (from Mario Lopez on Extra) on the new series beginning September 9, at which time Extra Extra is going to be airing on Fox TV stations (rather than NBC).
Extra Extra, Series Premiere, September 9, Check your local listings
