Billy Bush: ‘There is a term for what I did. It’s called bystander abuse’
January 26, 2018
The current issue of People Magazine has a true-crime story on the cover (“House of Horrors,” about those poor abused children in California), but I think People was probably considering putting Billy Bush on the cover. People landed an exclusive with Bush, 15 months after his world, his career, and his family imploded following the release of the Access Hollywood tape. Bush was heard “egging on” Donald Trump as Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women and trash-talking Bush’s then-coworker, Nancy O’Dell. This is not the first time Bush has spoken. He did a series of interviews last year as well. I have mixed feelings about all of this, but I’ll discuss that after you read what he has to say now:
Losing his job: “I was ashamed and embarrassed. And then I went through stages of grieving because I lost my career. For a man, that’s the ultimate degradation.”
Separating from his wife: “I was a happy-go-lucky guy. Everything is going great and I was like, ‘Hey, this is awesome!’ And then, kaboom.”
He understands what he did: “I have done so much self-help work,” says the former host, whose daily routine includes a Bible reading, scripture and a daily stoic. He’s also taken ownership of his role in the controversy. “There is a term for what I did. It’s called bystander abuse. It says by not doing anything you are endorsing the moment. I have to live with that.”
How he feels in the era of #MeToo: “I have three daughters. They are going to be in the workplace one day. I want them to be paid equally, I want them to be treated well and when they walk out of a room I don’t want to ever hear anyone talking behind their back in a degrading way.”
Here are my mixed feelings: Billy Bush hasn’t grown as much as he thinks he has, nor has he really learned all of the lessons he should have learned, and yet… I think it’s good that he’s trying and taking ownership of his own actions/inactions, and I think it’s absolutely awful that his career was destroyed and Trump is still the f–king president.
As for what he still needs to figure out… why is it the “ultimate degradation” for a MAN to lose his job? You know what the “ultimate degradation” is for a woman? To be assaulted by a man and then to have other men laugh about it (as Bush did) and to have her abuser tell the world that she’s not attractive enough to assault (as Trump did). I mean, maybe that’s not the ultimate degradation to some women, but I’m just trying to give Billy Bush some f–king perspective.
And finally: it’s a bit rich for Bush to have a come-to-Jesus moment when it involves his daughters. He clearly had a problem seeing his female coworkers as human beings deserving of equal treatment, protections and pay. Why is it not surprising that Bush is exactly the kind of man who can only see women as deserving of respect when those women are related to him?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
