After defending the veracity of the infamous Access Hollywood tape in an op-ed in the New York Times, Billy Bush went on The Late Show last night to discuss the tape with Stephen Colbert and throw his support behind the women who have accused Trump of sexual assault. “I was there,†Bush said, addressing Trump and the tape. “For the last 14 months of my life, I have been dealing with it. You dealt with it for 14 minutes, and went on to be the president.†Bush said that, after being fired and dealing with the fall-out from the tape on a personal front, he later read the accounts of the women who had accused Trump and believed them. “Enough’s enough,†he said of his reason to support them. “Stop playing around with people’s lives.â€
Later in the interview, Colbert pushes Bush to explain why he didn’t react to Trump’s description of sexual assault on the tape, and Bush claims he equated what he was saying to “a performance or stand-up act†and that he felt he “had to kiss the ring†of one of NBC’s bigger ratings successes. Colbert then goes for levity, asking whether Bush knows what it means to “move on her like a bitch,†which Bush does not. When asked how mad he is that he was fired, Bush evaded the question, but insisted that “I would have liked the chance to address the audience†on TV before being let go. The interview concludes as Colbert asks how Bush hurt his wrist, as recently documented on his Instagram account, because if there’s one thing that’s important right now, it’s golf injuries.