'Today' Show Very Briefly Addresses Billy Bush Suspension Following Leaked Trump Tape

The 'Today' show team briefly mentioned Monday the absence of Billy Bush, who was suspended for his involvement in leaked Donald Trump tape.

October 10, 2016

The team behind NBC's Today show, a thing people actually watch, was tasked with (very briefly) explaining the absence of alleged human Billy Bush Monday. Bush, as Last Week Tonight host John Oliver kindly reminded us Sunday evening, was caught on Washington Post-obtained tape in 2005 giggling his ass off while GOP nominee Donald Trump bragged about sexual assault:

Bush's absence was briefly mentioned twice during the broadcast, with Savannah Guthrie noting the show's palpable Bushlessness during the first hour before Tamron Hall and the one and only Al Roker expounded on it a bit later in the broadcast. "As you can see, Billy Bush is not joining us today," Roker said. "As you're probably aware, [he was] part of that 2005 Access Hollywood taping with Donald Trump that's been in the news all weekend."

Roker previously had a televised and heavily tweeted disagreement with Bush regarding disgraced cough drop salesman Ryan Lochte, at which point Roker fully became the legend we already knew him to be:

Following the circulation of the offensive tape in which Trump says fame allows him to grab women "by the pussy," Today suspended Bush from his role as Person Who Reads Things on TV. "I know we've all been deeply troubled by the revelations of the past 48 hours," Noah Oppenheim, Today boss, said in a statement Monday. "Let me be clear—there is simply no excuse for Billy's language and behavior on that tape. NBC has decided to suspend Billy, pending further review of this matter."