On Monday morning, NBC’s Today covered both Sunday night’s presidential debate—and the show’s own uncomfortable connection to the scandal that rocked the campaign of Donald Trump late Friday.
Reporting on the 2005 audio of Trump speaking in vulgar terms about women and bragging about the ease with which he could sexually assault them, co-host Savannah Guthrie said “we do want to note one other thing. Pending further review of the matter, NBC News has suspended Billy Bush, the co-host of Today’s third hour, for his role in that conversation with Donald Trump.”
In the show’s third hour, Al Roker addressed Bush’s status. “As you can see Billy Bush is not joining us today,” Roker said, with Tamron Hall explaining, “NBC, which owns Access Hollywood, has suspended Billy for his role in that conversation pending further review.”
Late Sunday, NBC announced Bush’s suspension, with NBC News SVP and Today show head Noah Oppenheim writing in a note to staffers, “let me be clear — there is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape.”
Pending further review of the matter, NBC News has suspended Billy Bush. pic.twitter.com/uYGydJQV4N
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 10, 2016