Open Post: Hosted By Hoda Kotb And Kathie Lee Gifford Acting Like They Care About Billy Bush Leaving

Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford have dream jobs, because they get to get morning drunk while blabbering out incoherent nonsense, which now that I think about it, is basically what I do. But sometimes Hoda and Kathie Lee have to really work for that money by pretending like they actually give one shit about something they probably don’t give half-a-shit about. Case in point: On Today this morning, it was officially announced that egger on-er Billy Bush is fucking done and won’t be coming back.

Matt Lauer read the news as though he was reading ingredients on a box of Cheerios and Tamron Hall, who co-hosted the third hour with Billy, did the same, but added just a touch of manufactured sympathy. And when it was Hoda and Kathie Lee’s turn to say their goodbyes to Billy, they laid it on as thick as KLG’s hairstylist lays on the mousse to get those pre-pop Taylor Swift curls. They acted like Billy Bush damn died, and maybe that was their shady way of bidding farewell to his career. Hoda told a story about her favorite Billy Bush moment (read: the only Billy Bush moment she remembers) and Kathie Lee dribbled out this hilarious quote that is equal parts shade, bullshit and sappiness.

“He has been a joy for us and he was only here about 9 weeks. He was so much fun to be around. He was always up for anything, a real team player, we’re really, really going to miss him. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.”

The “thoughts and prayers” thing made my eyeballs roll to and fro, at first, because Billy is millions of dollars richer and is going to be fine. But then I also found myself sending thoughts and prayers to Billy’s family, because now that he’s out of a job, he’ll probably be around the house more. That’s probably what Kathie Lee meant.

I shouldn’t be so bitchy. I’m sure Hoda and Kathie Lee were happy that Billy was a member of the “Today family.” Because if Billy was never there, he would’ve never been fired and they wouldn’t have a reason to drink!

Jezebel has the full clip of Hoda and KLG’s goodbye to Bush, but a piece of it is at the 0:50 mark in the video from Yahoo! below: