NBC Is Cutting Its Ties With Billy Bush

Looks like Billy Bush is yesterday's man at the Today show. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter that the network is moving to cut its ties with the co-host, who egged on Donald Trump and laughed at his lewd remarks about then-Access Hollywood co-host Nancy O'Dell in a 2005 conversation. "There is simply no excuse for Billy’s language and behavior on that tape," Today executive producer Noah Oppenheim told staff in an email Sunday, per the Wall Street Journal. Bush had already been suspended indefinitely from Today, which he joined full-time earlier this year.

Bush, 44, has said he is "embarrassed and ashamed." The Washington Post notes that Bush—whose image has been removed from digital billboards outside the show's headquarters—had personality clashes with other Today hosts even before the 2005 tape surfaced. Sources tell Page Six that while covering the Olympics in Rio, Bush bragged to other NBC employees that he had a "tape of Trump being a real dog," which led to Access Hollywood staff members tracking it down. The sources say female staff at NBC have been asked to come forward if they know of any other instances of Bush behaving inappropriately. (More Billy Bush stories.)