Kelly Ripa Calls Anderson Cooper the Live Co-Host That ‘Got Away,’ Would Consider Working With Billy Bush
As the (seemingly endless) search for Kelly Ripa‘s permanent Live co-host continues, a surprising new name is being thrown into the ring: Billy Bush.
During an appearance on Wednesday’s Watch What Happens Live, host Andy Cohen presented Ripa with a colorful list of potential co-hosts — ranging from Sally Jesse Raphael to the Kardashians — and she seemed open to all of them, including disgraced news anchor Bush.
Her reasoning? Why, she’d love to get to the bottom of what really happened during Bush’s infamous Access Hollywood bus ride with Donald Trump in 2005, of course.
Ripa’s fellow guest Anderson Cooper — whom Ripa referred to as “the one that got away” when he decided to re-up with CNN, thus taking him out of the Live running — also shared his thoughts on Bush’s future in the business:
“We work in an industry where it’s up to viewers who they want to watch,” Cooper told a caller who asked if he thought Bush was unfairly penalized for his part in bus-gate, considering the other guy involved became our next president. “I understand why the [Today] show made the decision they did. This is a tough industry, and I think Billy Bush understands the industry. I think he had a settlement, and I’m sure he’ll bounce back in on way or another.”
But no matter who ends up clinching the coveted spot alongside Ripa, don’t hold your breath for the Live host to make a decision anytime soon.
“We really didn’t set a timeframe for ourselves,” she explained. “We wanted to wait until we found the right person. What we didn’t anticipate is that we’d have such an outpouring of interest, so the list got very long very quickly.”
Who would you like to see as Ripa’s permanent co-host? And what are your thoughts on Bush’s future (or lack thereof) in the industry? Whatever’s on your mind, drop it in a comment below.
My choice would be Fred Savage. Never Billy Bush, I quit watching Today when he was hired.
i want billy bush he is great and truthful i hope to see him everyday with kelly
I would never ever watch Billy Bush. I couldn’t stand him before Today but I did stop watching the 9 o’clock hour because of him.
I stopped watching at 9 for the same reason. Always thought Billy Bush was (is) obnoxious and egotistical!
I would love to see Jeff Probst, that’s my top pick! Also NPH, I think would be great!
Throw all kinds of money at the teacher. He was great.
Right?!? The was amazing! On a side note, I guess this means neither Jerry O’Connell or Fred Savage should hold their breath for this job.
He was boring – no star power. Where would we go after novelty wore off?
He was boring – where would show go in a week after novelty wore off?? Need someone who is in show business and interesting. Not some guy with puppy dog eyes staring at Kelly Ripa
Pick two and send her packing
I’ll never watch again if they hire Billy Bush. Couldn’t stand him before the whole Trump tape thing and that just made him a million times more repulsive.
I love Josh Groban, but no way he’d take the permanent gig. He’s too busy already.
I really have liked the Fred Savage co-hosted episodes, I’d go with him! I like their rapport and I love him and what he brings to the show.
Billy Bush would be perfect next to Kelly.He smart,energetic,great personality——-he was given the short end of the stick—he should never have been fired in the first place.
He should’ve stayed on AHL then where he was the King next to Kit Hoover. He’ll be second fiddle to Ripa. Never gonna happen. I agree for the most part that he should have never been fired considering the main guy in the plot got handed the presidency.
Nah, if he worked anywhere else, he would have been fired as well. HR departments don’t take too kindly to widely spread publicly viewed videos of sexual harassment between two employees.
As if Anderson Cooper would ever consider giving up his CNN gig to host that show. I’m sure ABC execs, who Ripa loudly and publicly embarrassed earlier this year, are already looking for a replacement show.
There is nothing Billy Bush could do that I would watch, but as a feminist black woman married to a white immigrant and raising multicultural children, I’m probably not the target audience for anyone who would hire him anyway. So good luck, Billy!
Hire the teacher. I need a good story to end a long year, not ‘this is the soft landing we’ll toss Billy Bush’s way.’ I wouldn’t have rewarded Trump the way he was, either, and with Bush he was actually abhorrent, too. Sure, he didn’t say he grabs women by the pu—, but he but Arianne Zucker in a position where refusing his demand they both get hugs (!!!) would have made her seem like the bad guy. He was just as, if not more, disrespectful in that moment.
If she chooses Bush I won’t watch her show anymore. Plain and simple.
Billy Bush it seems to me that he is not a compatible choice with Kelly. He’ll want to take over, his arrogance is annoying. Keep lookin. Please.
Whoever they get the two have to have chemistry. I quit watching when Michael Strahan became her co-host. It never seemed natural and I think he is boring!! I liked Billy Bush and all his antics on the Today Show. I haven’t watched that hour since they let him go. Dean Cain always seems to have a great attitude and never seems to be boring!! I think he would be a great fit for the Today Show or Kelly Ripa’s co-host.
Kelly has become insufferable. Strahan was PERFECTION, I wish they would just send Kelly packing and find two personalities that can bring the show back.
Michelle Obama should be your cohost,you should have a female Co host. Together it would be great. You two would make a good balance.
Cooper barely gets ratings on his own show so he would not help the show.
Jeff Varner survivor Australia
He’s done Live in the past with Kelly.. Has the looks the charm great personality.Looks food with Kelly..
Jeff Varner (Survivor Australia)
I think Bily Bush should not be considered because he’s shown that he’s not strong enough to stand up for what’s right and decent. Nor did he defend women even though he should have considering his own female relatives such as his mother, sisters, and aunts. Also, he needed to do the decent thing and stop Trump’s sexist comments that put women back into the dark ages and disregarded women’s rights! He should not be given a platform to be in front of the camera again! It would be great to have Fred Savage or Diane Sawyer, if she would consider it.
Neil Patrick Harris is the perfect choice! His family and the Ripa-Consuelos brood are so close offscreen (even traveling and spending holidays together). NPH is so immensely talented, is always great fun to watch but also has the right temperament needed to sustain a daily hosting gig. And he lives in New York now, too!
Love Billy Bush, funny and talented. He really pulled me in when he was on the Today show.
Billy Bush would be a much better option then Fred Savage. Watching Kelly and Fred is painful. I have been watching this show for 25 years and can’t watch the two of them together. They just don’t gel.
Billy Bush is charismatic and topical. He brings a lot to a conversation and is humorous.
He got a raw deal getting sucked into the Trump drama and deserves to be back on the air.
Who watches this show anymore?
It’s the number one entertainment talk show in syndication.