Billy Bush Enlists Crisis PR Firm to Manage NBC Exit

Goldin Solutions began representing Bush on Tuesday.

Embattled Today show host Billy Bush has brought in some communications firepower as he eyes a transition out of NBC News.

Goldin Solutions, the New York-based crisis PR and strategy firm run by David Goldin, began representing Bush on Tuesday, sources say. Goldin, whose entertainment and media clients have included Cablevision, Gawker Media, Time Inc. and streaming music service Rdio before its sale to Pandora, has a background in television news, including serving for several years as a top executive at MSNBC.

As THR reported early Tuesday, Bush, who joined the 9 a.m. hour of Today this summer, is negotiating his exit from NBC in the wake of the Friday release of the now-infamous recording of a lewd conversation from 2005 with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump when Bush hosted Access Hollywood.

Bush, 44, has apologized for his role in the Trump tape, during which he can be heard laughing and egging on the then-Apprentice star when he said he grabbed women by the genitals and tried to have sex with Bush's co-anchor Nancy O'Dell. NBC sources initially indicated Bush would apologize and try to put the matter behind him, but by Sunday, amid mounting media pressure, he had been suspended from Today. Shortly afterward, his representatives began negotiating his exit from the network. A formal announcement is expected by the end of the week.

In addition to Goldin, Bush continues to be represented by a team at WME, publicist Jill Fritzo and attorney Robert Lange.