Former ‘Access Hollywood’ host, Billy Bush, was ruined when video of him and Trump making sexist comments about women was taken off the cutting room floor and released to the masses. The footage, which included Trump saying you could grab women by the p*ssy if you’re rich and famous, was leaked ahead of the presidential election. Although it didn’t have much of a negative impact on Trump, Bush lost his job at NBC and seemingly has not been heard from again.
There has been speculation about how the video got out, and not much to our surprise, one theory is that someone from NBC is the culprit. According to Page Six, a TODAY Show staffer leaked the tape in an attempt to get Billy Bush, who Matt Lauer hated, out of the paint.
“The tape was leaked by the NBC News division, by somebody at the ‘Today’ show,” says one source. “NBC News knew for a while about the existence of the tape. Billy himself had told them about it. People in the news division became frustrated that ‘Access Hollywood’ was taking too long to air it and decided it had to come out.”
“The leaked tape served a dual purpose: It helped get Bush out of the way — Matt Lauer didn’t like him and felt he was a liability — and NBC thought it would derail Trump,” says the source. “But all it did was crush Billy, and, ironically, his own network was behind it.”
The source tells Page Six that even though it did not derail the Trump Train, the leak still somewhat served its purpose. However, another source insists Today and Matt Lauer were not the culprits. “The leak did not come from ‘Today.’ It was leaked by somebody on the West Coast who hated Billy Bush and wanted to take him down,” said the insider.
