Bush claimed at the time he was brought in for the third hour of today, Roker’s days were secretly numbered despite him having a deal to do the show “in perpetuity.”
“It would never be a successful hour because he’s maybe the worst interviewer on television, and he’s totally unprepared. And I came in for the new job, and I was to be the lead person on that hour,” he revealed about management’s plan.
“I hate to tell Al this now, but the general manager of the show, Noah Oppenheim, told me, ‘You need to survive until March, and then we’re gonna unload Al. We’re gonna get him out of this deal. When his is up, we’re going to get him off this hour because he is toxic,'” Bush explained, as the plan was to make it more of a Regis & Kelly type of format.
Ultimately, that didn’t happen, as Bush was let go from Today in October 2016 after the infamous tape with Donald Trump dropped, where the two men were caught talking on an Access Hollywood hot mic in 2005, and the then-future president made a crude remark about grabbing women’s private parts.