Billy Bush Joins Fox News Decade After Access Hollywood Scandal
Billy Bush, ousted from NBC in 2016 over the Trump tape, is joining Fox News as a contributor.
Billy Bush is returning to national television as a Fox News contributor, roughly a decade after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape cost him his position as a "Today" show anchor, according to a report from The New York Times.
Bush lost his prominent NBC morning role in 2016 when footage surfaced of him engaging with Donald J. Trump in a conversation in which Trump made remarks joking about sexual assault. The recording, made years earlier, became one of the most consequential media moments of that presidential election cycle and effectively ended Bush's tenure at the network.
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The move to Fox News marks a significant professional rehabilitation for Bush, who had largely remained out of the spotlight since his NBC departure. Fox News, which maintains a large prime-time audience and a loyal viewership aligned closely with Trump's political base, represents an unconventional landing spot given the circumstances surrounding the tape that originally derailed Bush's career.
The hiring underscores the degree to which the media landscape has shifted in the years since 2016. What ended a career at one major network is now, a decade later, a footnote rather than a disqualifier at another. The contributor role does not place Bush in a full-time anchor position, but it does restore him to a national broadcast platform with significant reach.
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