Billy Bush, the television personality whose career was significantly affected by the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape featuring Donald J. Trump, has joined Fox News as a contributor. The tape, which surfaced in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, captured Mr. Trump making vulgar comments about women and boasting about sexual advances. While Mr. Trump went on to win the election, the controversy led to Mr. Bush’s departure from NBC’s “Today” show, where he had recently joined as a co-anchor.
Mr. Bush, who is 54 years old and related to former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, issued a public apology at the time of the tape’s release, expressing embarrassment and shame. In a statement released by Fox News Media on Tuesday, he said he looks forward to providing his perspective on “the people, ideas and moments shaping today’s culture … as well as the ones trying to undo it.” Mr. Bush is set to make his debut on “Jesse Watters Primetime” at 8 p.m. Eastern and will appear across various Fox platforms.
The recording took place in 2005 on the set of the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” where Mr. Trump was making a cameo appearance. In the video, Mr. Trump made graphic and offensive remarks about women, including comments about groping, while Mr. Bush was engaged in casual conversation with him. Mr. Bush was then a host of the entertainment news program “Access Hollywood.”
Following the tape’s release nearly a decade later, legal challenges related to Mr. Trump’s alleged sexual misconduct intensified. In 2023, a federal jury in New York found Mr. Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of assault in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. Mr. Trump was ordered to pay almost $90 million in damages, a decision he is currently appealing.
Mr. Trump initially apologized for the language used in the tape but later reportedly suggested to associates that the voice in the recording might not have been his. Reflecting on the incident in a 2017 essay, Mr. Bush dismissed these denials and acknowledged the pain experienced by the women who came forward with sexual misconduct allegations. “To these women: I will never know the fear you felt or the frustration of being summarily dismissed and called a liar,” he wrote, adding that he understood the distress of being forever linked to Mr. Trump.
After leaving NBC, Mr. Bush spent five years hosting the syndicated entertainment program “Extra” and launched a podcast titled “Hot Mics With Billy Bush.” His new role at Fox News marks his return to a national media platform nearly ten years after the Access Hollywood controversy.