How Twitter Is Telling Billy Bush What He Should Do With His Multi-Million Dollar Severance Package
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NBC is reportedly parting ways with "Today" show host Billy Bush according to the Associated Press, and Twitter has thoughts about how Bush should spend his severance pay.
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A 2005 recording released by The Washington Post two weeks ago features Trump talking to Bush about grabbing women "by the p*ussy," and it includes Bush encouraging and participating in a graphic conversation about a woman's body.
Although NBC is reportedly letting him go, Bush probably won't go away empty handed. He could be getting a severance package of up to $10 million, according to Vulture. However, Bush's lawyer told US Weekly on Friday that the dollar amount of his settlement is still being negotiated.
In light of Trump and Bush's misogyny-filled comments about women, people on Twitter think Bush should donate his severance money to women's charities, and they picked a sarcastic yet hilarious way to let him know.
Comedian Patrick Monahan started applying the pressure. He suggested that people tweet as if Bush already decided to donate his money to women's charities.
Twitter users, including some famous ones, responded with the hashtag #ThanksBilly to sarcastically thank Bush for a donation he hasn't made. (Some of the jokes also included Billy's cousins former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former President George W. Bush.)
Monahan did interject to remind people that the Bush has not actually donated anything at this point.
Bush and Trump's gross conversation affected women directly.
After the controversial tape of Bush and Trump's conversation was released, people noted that the language was essentially Trump bragging that he could grab women without their consent, which is sexual assault. They also accused Bush of being complicit in this degrading conversation.
The Rape Abuse, and Incest National Network provides support services for survivors of sexual assault assault, along with statistics about sexual assault. Jodi Omear, the vice president of communications at RAINN, slammed Bush and Trump's jokes about touching women.
“Any language that condones sexual assault, no matter where it takes place, is not okay,” she said in a press release. “Fortunately, this is not the kind of talk heard in most locker rooms. It's the kind of talk we usually only hear from people who don't know the difference between appropriate behavior and sexual violence."
After the news broke about Bush and Trump's tape, the RAINN sexual assault hotline saw a 33 percent surge in calls from the previous weekend. The headlines were apparently triggering for some survivors. Women are much more likely than men to be the victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.
“Our hotline staff started to see an increase in calls and doubled our staff for the weekend shifts,” said Brian Pinero, RAINN’s vice president for victim services in a press release. “There were times when there were 20-30 people in our queue.”
Although Bush's $10 million donation is fictional, funding for women's organizations is a critical issue.
Planned Parenthood helps women and men with sex education and health services, although the organization has a special focus on women's health. An estimated one in five women in the U.S. has visited Planned Parenthood at one point in her life. The organization gives 270,000 exams to check cervical cancer and more than 360,000 breast cancer screenings a year, many of these to low-income women.
Anti-abortion politicians, including Trump, want to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding if it continues to offer abortions, even though abortions are only 3 percent of the services provided there. Also, the Hyde Amendment prevents federal money from being used for abortion services.
