{"id":3633,"date":"2026-06-16T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/06\/16\/billy-bush-says-al-roker-was\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:13:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:13:00","slug":"billy-bush-says-al-roker-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/06\/16\/billy-bush-says-al-roker-was\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Bush Says Al Roker Was"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-557212\">\n<div>\n<p><span><span>Reading Time: <\/span> <span> 3<\/span> <span>minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>For decades, Al Roker has enjoyed a reputation as one of the friendliest personalities on morning television.<\/p>\n<p>But to hear his former colleague Billy Bush tell it, Al is a <em>very<\/em> different guy when the cameras aren\u2019t rolling.<\/p>\n<p>Bush was Roker\u2019s co-host for two months in 2016 \u2014 and it seems that their working relationship was not a healthy one.<\/p>\n<figure><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"Al Roker teaches at the Food Network New York City Wine &#038; Food Festival presented by Invesco QQQ - Master Class hosted by Al Roker and Courtney Roker Laga at Institute of Culinary Education on October 20, 2024 in New York City. \"   src=\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2179849243-scaled.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><figcaption>Al Roker teaches at the Food Network New York City Wine &#038; Food Festival presented by Invesco QQQ \u2013 Master Class hosted by Al Roker and Courtney Roker Laga at Institute of Culinary Education on October 20, 2024 in New York City. <span> (Photo by JP Yim\/Getty Images for NYCWFF)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In a new interview, Bush unleashed a stunning attack on his former colleague, describing Roker as \u201cterritorial, vindictive and chronically unprepared\u201d during their brief time working together on NBC\u2019s <em>Today<\/em> show.<\/p>\n<p>Bush made the allegations while appearing on journalist Maureen Callahan\u2019s podcast, \u201cThe Nerve,\u201d where the conversation quickly turned to his experience behind the scenes at the morning show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always sensed rage just underneath that very overly friendly surface,\u201d Callahan said about Roker.<\/p>\n<p>She then played a throwback clip of Roker going off on Bush during a remote, yelling, \u201cYou don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going to be. I am going to be your worst nightmare. I\u2019m going to live on you like a tick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way I describe Al is three words. Territorial, vindictive, and chronically unprepared,\u201d Bush said about his former colleague.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p> <iframe title=\"Al Roker\u2019s Bad Temper EXPOSED as Billy Bush Recaps How he was Treated by the \u201cFriendly\u201d Weatherman\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-cookieconsent=\"statistics, marketing\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yKTiqLOEXrY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><div class=\"cookieconsent-optout-statistics cookieconsent-optout-marketing\">Please accept <a href=\"javascript:Cookiebot.renew()\">statistics, marketing<\/a> cookies to watch this video.<\/div> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The former Access Hollywood host claimed Roker viewed him as a threat from the moment he arrived at <em>Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>According to Bush, he came into the third hour of the program intending to become a central part of the show\u2019s future. He alleged that network executives were unhappy with Roker\u2019s performance and planned to eventually remove him from the show altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Bush claimed a producer told him to simply survive his first few months on the job because management intended to move on from Roker once contractual issues were resolved.<\/p>\n<p>That plan, of course, never materialized.<\/p>\n<p>Just months after Bush joined <em>Today<\/em>, the infamous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehollywoodgossip.com\/2017\/12\/billy-bush-to-donald-trump-you-did-assault-those-women\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Access Hollywood <\/em>tape featuring Donald Trump<\/a> surfaced, resulting in Bush\u2019s firing and effectively ending his NBC tenure. Roker remained with the network and continues to be one of the most recognizable faces on morning television.<\/p>\n<p>But Bush says his problems with Roker extended far beyond workplace competition.<\/p>\n<p>The television personality alleged that Roker became jealous whenever he gained momentum during interviews and resented sharing airtime with colleagues.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYnh8oRD8oF\/?utm_source=ig_embed&#038;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI prepared for every guest,\u201d Bush recalled, claiming he would thoroughly research interview subjects before appearing on air. According to Bush, Roker would become frustrated whenever Bush dominated a segment or appeared particularly prepared.<\/p>\n<p>Bush went on to describe Roker as someone who does not enjoy seeing coworkers succeed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a mean person,\u201d Bush said during the podcast appearance. \u201cThere\u2019s jealousy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also alleged that Roker once liked a social media post that referred to Bush as a \u201cwhitesplaining racist,\u201d a move Bush interpreted as evidence that his co-host was actively working against him behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>Bush also claimed that both Roker and former <em>Today<\/em> anchor Matt Lauer made it clear they were not thrilled about his arrival at the network.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could feel it,\u201d Bush said of the atmosphere during his short-lived run on the show.<\/p>\n<p>Roker has not publicly responded to Bush\u2019s allegations, and it\u2019s safe to say these claims will come as a surprise to many fans.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the veteran broadcaster chooses to address the accusations remains to be seen \u2014 but we\u2019re guessing All will choose not to call amy further attention to the situation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading Time: 3 minutes For decades, Al Roker has enjoyed a reputation as one of the friendliest personalities on morning television. But to hear his former colleague Billy Bush tell it, Al is a very different guy when the cameras aren\u2019t rolling. Bush was Roker\u2019s co-host for two months in 2016 \u2014 and it seems that their working relationship was not a healthy one. Al Roker teaches at the Food Network New York City Wine &#038; Food Festival presented by Invesco QQQ \u2013 Master Class hosted by Al Roker and Courtney Roker Laga at Institute of Culinary Education on October 20, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim\/Getty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2060,2061,2,28,32,1654,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-al-roker","category-billy-bush","category-hollywood","category-news","category-spotlight","category-the-today-show","category-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}