Just like Barbara Walters, Access Hollywood‘s Billy Bush seven years ago tried to get Ricky Martin to come out while the cameras were rolling. Martin was none too pleased, ripped his mic off, and stormed off the set. Bush, the coiffed first cousin of the former president, is v. sorry about how things went down.
And now, back to Billy’s regularly scheduled programming, Sucking Up To Celebrities.
Kent
Ugh. the way Billybush talks makes him sound like he’s trying to be heard over a vacuum cleaner or something. Perhaps it’s just his own ‘suck’ he’s attempting to drown out?
NAP79
Billy Bush is quite possibly one of the most despicable jackasses on the planet, not to mention perhaps that dumbest motherfucker to ever hold a microphone. You don’t get more vapid than that asshole.
Ricky should’ve bitch-slapped him on the way out.
wopper
ah the bushes, just as his uncle was never really a politician, in the classical sense that you know things about policy, this billy goat is not a journalist…keeping it real Bush style.
terrwill
Bush may be a chucklehead, but Miss Martin throwing a hissyfit made it look like Bush was accusing him of being a serial killer.
Bush was simply pointing out the very obvious……..
CONVERSATION CHAMBER
No, Bush was being nosey and hoping to get out of Ricky an interview that would take his career to the next level. You don’t ask people what their sexual orientation is. If they want to divulge that information to you, then they will. You don’t pry.
I would have ended the interview too.
tres chaud
I like Billy. I think he’s different than most entertainment anchors, and he doesn’t seem to suck up to them. He’s funny.
And that apology was decent, even though I disagree with him. I think you can ask if someone is gay. 2010 baby.
I don’t get they George Bush crap is an insult. Should everyone be punished for the relatives they have? I have some crazy relatives from my home country who have probably committed war crimes.
Is that my fault?
gilber
TERRWILL why do you adress to ricky martin as if he were woman, because i don’t think ricky is a sissy AT ALL,have you ever seen him taking with a gay voice or gesticulating like a girl?!!!! is super masculine and this is something ALL homosexuals should be proud of, seeing a masculine homosexual man is always a pleasure!!!! we gotta break the stereotypes, so please stop your freaking insults to ricky besides your jokes towards him are very silly and stupid
terrwill
@gilber: You don’t need to be a sissy to throw a hissy fit ……..And sure it is nice to see a masculine homosexual man. Would have been nicer like ten years earlier…
D'oh, The Magnificent
@terrwill: We live in such strange times. Now due to celebrity culture, we are suppose to glorify the closet, I guess. It is sad what people are willing to sell out just to protect their precious need for celebrity entertainment. I am glad the guy came out. I think it is good that he did. But I don’t think anyone should be defending the closet he was in.
David in Houston
That was totally insincere. I didn’t believe a word out of Billy’s mouth.
Hilarious
Can you really be referred to as a journalist if your resume includes Access Hollywood?
terrwill
@D’oh, The Magnificent: Co-sign, and remember timing is everything. Like when your career may have hit the skids maybe its time to come out……….
ewe
I am more interested in the otters love for each other.
merkin
“You don’t ask people what their sexual orientation is.”
Oh wow–Ive only been an entertainment journalist for 15 years. Why didnt they teach us that in J-school?
Martin thought he was gonna get a cushy softball interview and Bush decided to throw him a curveball. Big friggin’ deal.
So long as people act like your sexual orientation is this big friggin deal, society will react accordingly. When in reality, it shouldnt be any more important than if you’re left or right- handed.
CONVERSATION CHAMBER
Whether we liked it or not, a persons sexual orientation is STILL a very personal aspect of their being — one that they should have the authority to decide on how open they’re going to be about. It doesn’t matter how overall beneficial it is to be honest and forthright, or how detrimental being in the closet is. If someone would rather not talk about a certain aspect of their more private life, then trying to goad or harass them into speaking about what they’d rather not talk about is still wrong.
What Bush did was ambush Martin with a touchy question that he was known to deny and/or play cloak & dagger with. The respectable, professional thing to do would have been to talk to Martin (or whoever in his camp set up the interview) beforehand to ask if this was a subject that he would be willing to discuss. Bush, though, probably knew that he wouldn’t…so he decided to sneakily press anyway, probably hoping that he’d be able to browbeat Martin into disclosure (so that he–Bush–could be credited as the one to finally “break” the story.) Martin, though, proved himself not that easily manipulated, and angrily ended the interview. So in the end, what was accomplished? Nothing.
If I were Martin, I wouldn’t accept this bozo’s apology even today. Bush was being a sleazy “journalist.”
D'oh, The Magnificent
@CONVERSATION CHAMBER: You are an idiot.
CONVERSATION CHAMBER
@D’oh, The Magnificent: I’m not an idiot…you just have this annoyingly arrogant sense of entitlement when it comes to gay celebrities, and think that you have the authority to dictate and/or posture about how open they should be. As if.
Did you need Ricky admitting that he’s gay in order to feel better about yourself?
Do you feel validated as a homosexual knowing that he is too?
Truth be told, it isn’t any of your business or concern what Ricky Martin’s favorite flavor of ice cream is, let alone what gender he is personally oriented towards. You don’t have an automatic right to know anything he isn’t willing to share, just because.
Cam
No. 15 · CONVERSATION CHAMBER
Whether we liked it or not, a persons sexual orientation is STILL a very personal aspect of their being — one that they should have the authority to decide on how open they’re going to be about. It doesn’t matter how overall beneficial it is to be honest and forthright, or how detrimental being in the closet is. If someone would rather not talk about a certain aspect of their more private life, then trying to goad or harass them into speaking about what they’d rather not talk about is still wrong.
________________________
Nope, sorry, that is the old Hollywood bullshit argument. They try to asking somebody their sexual oritntation to asking them “Who are you fucking?”. The people that feel this way think being gay is a shamefull dirty secret. If Ricky Martin didn’t want to be asked these questions, then he shouldn’t be hitting the beaches with boyfriends, making out with young guys at parties where anybody could see etc… The problem with these celebs is that they want their cake and to eat it too. They want to be able to go out, hold hands in public, hit the slopes or beaches with their partners, and then act offended when people ask them about their sexuality…even though they have been very public about it. Sorry, but if he wants to act like a closet case, then he needs to behave like a closet case.