The Tucker Carlson Show
Billy Bush: The Infamous Trump Tape, Secrets of Corporate Media, & Megyn Kelly v. Harvey Weinstein
Mon, 06 Jan
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Eight years ago NBC News secretly colluded with the Washington Post to derail Donald Trump’s candidacy. Billy Bush was there and tells the story for the first time. (00:00) Why Corporate Media Management Is So Corrupt (04:57) Megyn Kelly vs. Harvey Weinstein (09:59) What Al Roker Is Really Like (12:33) Billy Bush’s Rise in Media (28:30) The Infamous Trump Tape That Got Billy Fired (44:00) Why Trump Was So Good at TV (55:53) The Beginning of Trump Derangement Syndrome Paid partnerships with: Public Square: https://PublicSquare.com/ Jase Medical: Promo code “Tucker” for extra discount at https://Jasemedical.com Starting January 13th, you can listen to “Hot Mics with Billy Bush" at TuneIn.com/hotmics and watch the show at YouTube.com/@HotMicswithBillyBush Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Why is corporate media management considered corrupt?
Oh, it's such a clutch off-season pickup, Dave. I was worried we'd bring back the same team. I meant those blackout motorized shades. Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install? No, it's easy. I installed these and then got some from my mom. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install. Hall of Fame son.
They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world. Blinds.com is the GOAT. Shop Blinds.com right now and get up to 45% off select styles. Rules and restrictions may apply.
When you realize, I mean, you obviously learned the hard way, I did too, but the people who run the business are just not good people. And there's some friendly people, there's certainly some smart people. There are some people who are good people, but in general, I worked at three different TV networks full-time and then two others part-time.
Chapter 2: What happened during Megyn Kelly's conflict with Harvey Weinstein?
And I just found as a rule management, they just weren't people you would make the godparents to your kids. A lot of people are afraid. I mean, I just think it's like, Is that what it is? Well, certainly linear television, you know, now the big companies, I think people are terrified. You know, you see management, they don't know where they're going to be the next day.
Welcome to the Tucker Carlson Show. We bring you stories that have not been showcased anywhere else. And they're not censored, of course, because we're not gatekeepers. We are honest brokers here to tell you what we think you need to know and do it honestly. Check out all of our content at TuckerCarlson.com.
Here's the episode. So leadership is hard to find, and gutsy leadership. You look back at the days of great sitcom television, you look at Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker and some of these great legends that said, you know what, we're going to stick with this Seinfeld bomb. The ratings are terrible, but what a, there's something there, and we're going to hold on to it, and we're just... That...
You know, as your audience is shrinking and the gains are shrinking, people are just terrified. They're looking over their shoulder. They're wondering, you know, am I the next to get fired? I mean, that's absolutely right.
I forgot Seinfeld was a bomb at first. It was not doing well. I totally forgot that. Imagine someone pulling that off the air. They would do it now. Didn't work after two episodes or three episodes. This didn't work after a year or two years. No, it's incredible. Right? They had the runway, though, because they were making so much money. NBC was making money in every category then.
And it had some good lead-in and all that stuff, and then they stuck with it, and now it makes more money in reruns still than most original shows. That's incredible.
Yeah. You've been in TV for like 30 years, or in broadcasting certainly for 30 years. Yeah. I still think, though, even when the business was making a ton of money, it was a dishonest business. That's the way it felt to me anyway when I started at CNN. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it's... You know, I look at all the places I've been, it's... I think of the moral high ground. Like, it doesn't exist. What does that mean? People grappling for the moral high ground, anyone who gets fired based upon, you know, for moral purposes, they try to use the morality clause, which every talent has in their contract, the morality clause, they lunge for it.
This is coming from people who don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to that. It's like, it's just a big laugh. Everyone, you know, the firers are all... completely morally compromised. So, so well, that's, I mean, I would just look at each other. Let's all look at each other for a second. Really? Do any of us belong standing on this? This is all about gain. Okay. Who's up? Who's down?
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Chapter 3: What is the real story behind the infamous Trump tape?
Chapter 4: How did the infamous Trump tape impact Billy Bush's career?
She's tough. She's a tough woman. She's tough. And she got tougher going through that. And I think like a lot of people I've known, you either become a better person or a worse person. And she became, I think, a better person. Yeah. Wonderful person. One of my favorite people, actually. So I think it was, you know, a huge victory for her on every level.
I was proud of her. She didn't do anything wrong, but ask a question. I know. She never said, we should be allowed to do blackface again. She didn't say that. Yeah. She said, when was the, all she did was raise the question. Now, remember, this is also retribution. The man that was the chairman of NBC News at the time who fired her, she had recently put out you know, an email calling him a liar.
Who was that? To the staff, Andy Lack. She called Andy Lack a liar because she said, wait a minute, we have someone who has corroborated Rose McGowan, the actress, who corroborated in the Me Too movement in this whole Weinstein case.
So just to refresh for people who don't recall, the allegation was, and I think it was true, that NBC had the goods on Harvey Weinstein that he was... behaving in an abusive way, in a legit abusive way toward women. Yeah.
Ronan Farrow was doing his report. Yeah. And they sat on it. And Ronan alleges that they, uh, they sat on it and said, we, you know, you don't have enough. You don't have anyone who's on camera and in name. And Megan said, wait a minute. Yeah. Rose McGowan in camera on camera in name. She's we've got a name. She'll go. And they, uh, I guess, overlooked that or refused to acknowledge it.
And so, but the idea was that, you know, the guy who was president of NBC News at the time is Noah Oppenheim and he's a script writer. He's really a script writer. And he's so, you know, Does he want to write scripts for Harvey? Who knows? But there's that relationship. And Harvey, you know, was never afraid to pick up the phone. I've had Harvey Weinstein call me. This is a great film.
You should have this on your show and access Hollywood. When I was the host, you know, hammering me to have a he was, you know, an animal. So it seems very likely that he was applying pressure to executives at NBC, including Noah Oppenheim.
Yeah, it seems likely. You have to assume. Well, he would apply pressure to anyone. If little Billy Bush over at Access Hollywood is getting pressured, then you know that today's show is. For sure. So Megan pipes up and says, actually, Andy Lack, her boss, what you're saying is not quite right. And they decide we've got to kill this woman.
Yeah. So it's retribution, clean and simple retribution. And I'm sure Megan's lawyer, Brian Friedman, who's one of the best lawyers in this game, turned and said, oh, no, you're not going to just. Yeah. She has done absolutely nothing wrong. Nice try. You can try and brand her a racist, which she is not for asking a question. But you are going to pay her out in full.
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Chapter 5: What role did NBC play in the Trump candidacy?
Chapter 6: Why was Trump so effective on television?
like santa claus kind of yeah you're supposed to be yeah maybe that makes you mad but uh uh although al got himself in shape however he did it and uh and oh did he i haven't seen i don't have a tv well he's uh he listen when i was at the today show and i just got there a producer of mine called me and said hey al roker just liked a tweet from someone calling you a white-splaining racist.
I said, what? So I looked and said, wait, I'm on the air with him every day. You got to be kidding me. So I went to my boss, the head of NBC, the head of the Today Show, Noah Oppenheim. And I said, hey, dude, I can't sit on the air with someone who's going to be liking tweets that call me names that are insane. I haven't done anything of the kind. I don't know what that even means.
Like, what are you talking about? So he's like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. And he had to go talk to, you know. Oh, I'll talk to him. But you file him under the group of people who did not want me there. Right. So there's a group that didn't. And, you know, Matt Lauer. Did Roker ever say, I think you're a racist? No. To your face?
Oh, hey, Bushman, how are you? But like this thing. But I could feel like when I got to the Today Show, there was definitely... Wait, where'd you been? Access Hollywood for 15 years. Okay, in LA. Let me give you the brief of how I got to the Today Show. Yeah. I built some leverage. I got a relationship with the woman who was the head of talent for ABC News, Good Morning America. Who's that?
Her name is Barbara Fedita. She ended up offering me a job. Ben Sherwood was running ABC News at the time. They offered me a job for Good Morning America to leave Access Hollywood and become like a national correspondent, but rotating in in the studio and get your shot, basically. Getting back up even more, how'd you end up on Access Hollywood? I was, I did something local.
I did some local feature reports back at WNBC in New York after doing radio for six years. Started in radio in New Hampshire, of all places, right out of college. Then I went to DC, had my own morning show there for five years, like a morning zoo type of morning show.
And then I did this local thing on television, just my own feature reports, fun stuff that I would write and edit and like that made me laugh. And people liked it. And so ultimately they came to me and said, what's your deal? We'd like to have you. We're looking for an East Coast correspondent for our show, Access Hollywood. You'll get to do red carpets and meet all kinds of movie stars. Okay.
Sounds good to me. So I started doing that in the end of 2001. And, you know, moved to the Today Show in 2016 and was there for 15 years. What was that like? I mean, it was really fun in the beginning. It was just awesome. You know, back when must-see TV was on Thursday nights. So, you know, the ratings were big. There was car service. It was super fun.
I got to do all these events and I sort of moved my way up. And in 2004, they moved me to Los Angeles to become the host of it. And I'm out there, you know, until I said, God, am I going to die doing this? Like, I got to change it up. So I put this like plan into effect to make some inroads. But you could have stayed forever, right? Oh, I could have stayed forever. Yeah.
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Chapter 7: What led to the beginning of Trump Derangement Syndrome?
Chapter 8: How does the corporate media handle controversial figures?
Oh, it's such a clutch off-season pickup, Dave. I was worried we'd bring back the same team. I meant those blackout motorized shades. Blinds.com made it crazy affordable to replace our old blinds. Hard to install? No, it's easy. I installed these and then got some from my mom. She talked to a design consultant for free and scheduled a professional measure and install. Hall of Fame son.
They're the number one online retailer of custom window coverings in the world. Blinds.com is the GOAT. Shop Blinds.com right now and get up to 45% off select styles. Rules and restrictions may apply.
When you realize, I mean, you obviously learned the hard way, I did too, but the people who run the business are just not good people. And there's some friendly people, there's certainly some smart people. There are some people who are good people, but in general, I worked at three different TV networks full-time and then two others part-time.
And I just found as a rule management, they just weren't people you would make the godparents to your kids. A lot of people are afraid. I mean, I just think it's like, Is that what it is? Well, certainly linear television, you know, now the big companies, I think people are terrified. You know, you see management, they don't know where they're going to be the next day.
Welcome to the Tucker Carlson Show. We bring you stories that have not been showcased anywhere else. And they're not censored, of course, because we're not gatekeepers. We are honest brokers here to tell you what we think you need to know and do it honestly. Check out all of our content at TuckerCarlson.com.
Here's the episode. So leadership is hard to find, and gutsy leadership. You look back at the days of great sitcom television, you look at Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker and some of these great legends that said, you know what, we're going to stick with this Seinfeld bomb. The ratings are terrible, but what a, there's something there, and we're going to hold on to it, and we're just... That...
You know, as your audience is shrinking and the gains are shrinking, people are just terrified. They're looking over their shoulder. They're wondering, you know, am I the next to get fired? I mean, that's absolutely right.
I forgot Seinfeld was a bomb at first. It was not doing well. I totally forgot that. Imagine someone pulling that off the air. They would do it now. Didn't work after two episodes or three episodes. This didn't work after a year or two years. No, it's incredible. Right? They had the runway, though, because they were making so much money. NBC was making money in every category then.
And it had some good lead-in and all that stuff, and then they stuck with it, and now it makes more money in reruns still than most original shows. That's incredible.
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