At the top of the 9:00 am hour of NBC’s Today Monday morning, better known as Today’s Take, the first thing Tamron Hall and Al Roker spoke about was the elephant not in the room: Billy Bush. But because they had better things to talk about—like the substance of Sunday night’s debate and a delicious-looking recipe for sticky buns—they explained his absence as quickly as possible.
Al: As you can see, Billy Bush is not joining us today—as you’re probably aware—part of that 2005 Access Hollywood taping with Donald Trump that’s been in the news all weekend.
Tamron: NBC, which owns Access Hollywood, has suspended Billy for his role in that conversation, pending further review. With that said, let’s turn to last night’s debate, where that 2005 tape played a big role.
Their lack of remorse mirrored that by Savannah Guthrie earlier in the morning:
Bush joined Today after my darling Willie Geist abandoned it earlier this year, and rumors about his coworkers not liking him started circulating almost immediately. Based on Hall and Roker’s indifferent reporting on his suspension, I believe them all.