Billy Bush is hanging up his hat as the host of Extra.
The veteran broadcaster announced his departure during a livestream of his Hot Mics with Billy Bush podcast on Monday.
“After an amazing five years hosting Extra, I am moving on to continue building out my Hot Mics digital platform,” he shared. “Extra is culturally iconic. If I had a dollar for every time someone hollered, ‘Extra! Extra!’ to me at an airport or something, I’d buy Warner Bros. It’s been a tremendous honor and privilege to front this show… I’m proud of it, [but] now it’s time to build something of my own. I’m forever grateful to the amazing staff at Extra and the executives at Warner Bros. for this awesome chapter of my life.”
John Lamparski/Getty
Billy Bush in New York City in 2019
In a statement shared with Entertainment Weekly, Theresa Coffino and Jeremy Spiegel, Executive Producers at Extra called Bush “the consummate broadcaster, a brilliant interviewer and a force of nature. We are grateful for his contributions to Extra, we will miss him and we look forward to seeing his next chapter.”
Lauren Blincoe, the Senior Vice President, Current Programming of Telepictures, the Warner Bros. subsidy that produces Extra, shared, “We are so grateful to Billy for five standout seasons with Extra. His dedication, experience and sharp reporting are just a few of the meaningful contributions he made on the show and with audiences alike. We thank him for the role he has played in shaping this chapter of Extra and we wish him continued success in what’s ahead.”
After reading his statement, Bush said, “I mean every word of that. I have had a tremendous run.”
Bush replaced Mario Lopez as host of the entertainment news show in 2019, after Lopez announced he’d be moving to Access Hollywood, which Bush hosted from 2001 to 2016.
Bush left his longtime home at Access Hollywood to become co-host of the third hour of TODAY, but the post proved short-lived; that October, while Donald Trump was deep into his first campaign for president, shocking tape from a 2005 interview between Bush and Trump surfaced.
Speaking of an unnamed woman, Trump noted, “I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything,” adding, “when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p—-.”
Elsewhere on the tape, Bush can be heard calling Trump’s scene partner in an episode of Days of Our Lives “hot as s—.”
TODAY announced Bush would be leaving the show days later, and the following May, Bush lamented, “I wish I had changed the topic. I wish I had said: ‘Does anyone want water?’ or, ‘It looks like it’s gonna rain’…. I didn’t have the strength of character to do it.”
You can watch the rest of today’s episode of Hot Mics with Billy Bush above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
