Why Billy Bush is Worse Than Trump
Hangry Black Woman here (aka, the Notorious R.U.E) Check out our discussion of the Trump tapes and the legacy of racist memorabilia on Episode 7 of the Honey & Rue Podcast.
For a sneak peek, here’s the text of Rue’s segment on Billy Bush:
To open today’s HBW segment, let me go ahead and state the obvious: Trump is reprehensible. He’s racist, bigoted, prejudiced, misogynistic and sexist. He literally represents the worst and basest element of this society — an amazing feat, kudos Donald! With the exception of his rabid and blindly loyal followers, even staunch Republicans have defected and withdrawn their support in the wake of the audio and video tapes that have recently emerged and show Trump to be undeniably and irrefutably sexist.
As you probably know by now, the 2005 footage released by Access Hollywood is a study in all that is lewd, crude and sexually offensive to women (and to any civic-minded American), culminating in Trump’s now infamous “grab ’em by the p*ssy” line. His co-conspirator on the recording is Billy Bush (and incidentally, first cousin of Jeb and George W. Bush).
If you tuned in to our previous segment on the Ryan Lochte debacle, you know that I’ve had a bone to pick with Billy Bush ever since he described Lochte’s outright lies about being robbed at gunpoint at the Rio Olympics as ‘embellishments.’ The footage from the Today Show which ended up going viral shows a visibly pissed-off Al Roker stating the obvious (i.e., that Lochte lied and disgraced our country), while Billy Bush tries to excuse and downplay Lochte’s actions. Even then, Billy Bush struck me as entitled and spoiled, determined to defend his fellow entitled brother — not because Lochte was right, but because Bush could relate to Lochte’s shenanigans.
Boy was I right. Fast forward just a few short months later and here we have Bush— defending his actions from 11 years ago, chalking them up to his being ‘younger and more foolish’ even though he was well into his 30s when this happened. Just to give you a frame of reference, Honey is in his early 30s — and he’s a responsible husband and father of 2. In what world are living where someone can chalk immature and irresponsible behavior up to being in their 30s??
At any rate, I’m sure you asking yourself: why is it that Billy Bush is worse than Donald Trump? Because for all his flaws, shortcomings and overall buffoonery, Trump is (for lack of a better phrase) open with his sh*t. He says whatever happens to be on his mind and he’s completely unapologetic. You know to write him off, ridicule him and dissect his craziness because he’s so out there with it.
Bush on the other hand? He’s the wolf in sheep’s clothing. An entertainment anchor on NBC’s Today Show, you can’t necessarily accuse him of being partisan or racist or sexist in the same way that you would Trump. And yet, his position allows him a platform that is insidious and dangerous. You can’t outright call him racist or misogynistic; and yet you know — just as I did when I saw the viral video about the Lochte scandal — that something isn’t quite right. You can’t put your finger on it. But you know something is awry.
Turns out that ‘something’ is entitlement, white privilege, and a boys club ‘locker room’ mentality. Trump has gone through great lengths to emphasize that his sexist comments were ‘just words’ not actions. Obviously, I disagree with Trump on that. However, if you analyze the Access Hollywood tape closely, to some degree he’s right. He says some reprehensible things and braggs about sexual assault. But in this particular instance it’s not Trump whose initiates an action that’s offensive. You know who does? Billy freaking Bush — that’s who. After all, after having engaged in the ‘locker room’ banter with Trump about Arianne Zucker, it is Bush who encourages the actress to hug Trump (before getting in on the hugging action himself). As someone who’s been on the receiving end of unwanted hugs in the workplace, believe me — Bush is as much of an offender as Trump, if not more so. He’s the enabler to Trump’s sexual predator.
In short, he’s that guy — the guy who maybe doesn’t initiate the despicable behavior, but instead rides the wave of it and even escalates it. He’s the guy who knows that something is wrong but instead of stopping it, just jumps on board. And what’s most dangerous is that there are more guys like him out there than there are Trumps.
The good news is that as of this moment NBC has announced that Bush has been suspended indefinitely from the Today Show. But a temporary suspension is not enough. If NBC brings Bush back to its network, I propose that we boycott the show until NBC comes to its senses and fires Bush for good. If you want to know how you can make your opinion known, there’s a change.org petition currently circulating asking for Billy Bush’s removal from the Today Show. Visit change.org and sign.
HBW Out.
