Billy Bush Admits He Tried to Out Ricky Martin
Billy Bush is recalling “the most uncomfortable celebrity situation” he ever had, and it involves Ricky Martin.
The 53-year-old entertainment host made an appearance on Literally! with Rob Lowe, and spoke about an interview with the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer around the time of his self-titled debut in 1999.
“I was young and working out of New York the first couple years on Access Hollywood, East Coast correspondent. I got the call to go down and interview Ricky Martin in Miami for his new album and Mariah Carey the night before,” he recalled.
“I know Barbara Walters had asked him about his sexuality. I’m like, ‘Wouldn’t that be a big news maker?’”
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In the hotel lobby the night before the interview, he took an informal poll to find out what people wanted to know about the singer, and they wanted to know if he was gay.
When he finally sat down for the interview, Billy asked the question and Ricky quickly removed his microphone.
“He gets up and he walks off the set, and I’m sitting there going, ‘Oh s—,’” he said.
“I’m like, ‘OK, I really feel badly.’ I just feel badly because he was legitimately hurt, and I’m not in the business of hurting people. I am in the business of figuring out who I am and where I’m going. And you need to be able to make mistakes in life. Remember that people,” he said.
Without microphones, Billy went to Ricky and apologized.
“I’m like, ‘Ricky, I am so sorry for asking that question,’” he said. “‘I don’t know what I was thinking. It was a cowboy question. It was inappropriate. I’m so sorry. And I promise you this will never see the light of day. I will smash that tape with a hammer.’”
He joked, “I should have smashed another one.”
Billy said Ricky told him them that there would be a time and a place for him to talk about his sexuality. (He came out in 2010.) He forgave Billy and gave him a hug.
Billy said he’d learned a “valuable lesson” from the experience: “Don’t be an a–hole. Don’t be an idiot.”