Billy Bush bashed his former “Today” co-host Al Roker on the June 12 episode of “The Nerve with Maureen Callahan” in a wild rant.
“The way I describe Al is three words: territorial, vindictive, and chronically unprepared,” Bush said about the 71-year-old weatherman.
The journalist claimed the third hour of the NBC morning news program “will never be a successful hour” because Roker is “maybe the worst interviewer on television.”
Bush worked on “Today” for two months in 2016 before he was fired for the leaked “Access Hollywood” interview where Donald Trump bragged to Bush about grabbing women “by the p—y.”
The 54-year-old said he was “prepared” and “well-researched” on the job, but Roker was “jealous” of him.
Bush further alleged Roker and Matt Lauer, who was fired from the show in 2017 for alleged inappropriate sexual behavior, both “did not want him” on the third hour.
Bush also claimed Roker liked a tweet that called him a “white-splaining racist,” but Roker wasn’t punished by producers because of his long-standing job with the show.
“Al had been there forever, so he kind of, you know, he gets free run of the place for his many credentials and one of them being longevity,” Bush explained.
Bush continued of Roker, “People don’t know how mean he was. He’s mean. He’s a mean person. When you say rageful and all that, it’s mean. There is rage in there. There’s jealousy. And I talk about vindictiveness, but he’s mean.”
Roker, according to Bush, also never wanted to “share the air” and didn’t like his former colleague because of the attention he got from women.
“When I got there, they said, you know, a younger guy with a full head of hair who the women on the staff genuinely liked a lot. And that was infuriating to him,” Bush stated.
At the end of the interview, Bush blasted Roker’s weather reporting.
“You’re never going to hear anything that’s truly insightful,” he said. “That’s not what he’s there for.”
Bush previously said he coped with his “Today” firing with heavy drinking, loafing on the couch and crying.
He got a second chance at his TV career when “Extra” hired him to replace Mario Lopez in 2019.
Bush later quit “Extra” in favor of his podcast, “Hot Mics with Billy Bush,” which he launched in 2025.
