You could say that Jenna Bush Hager has a “schitty” understanding of the FCC rules.
The daytime TV personality seemed to get a little too comfortable while co-hosting “Today With Jenna and Friends” with her buddy Willie Geist on Thursday.
A little over three minutes into the episode, Bush Hager and Geist began reminiscing about their long friendship, and Bush Hager recalled — very vividly — the first time they truly got to know each other.
She said it happened in 2012 during the London Olympics. At that time, Bush Hager really wanted to meet Geist’s wife, Christina. But when Bush Hager called Christina to see if she wanted to meet, Christina seemed a bit busy with her and Geist’s 3-year-old son, George.
“Christina goes — I don’t know if you can say this — but she was like, ‘God, George is acting like an asshole,’” Bush Hager recalled as Geist dropped his jaw in shock.
Bush Hager then nervously laughed and then pointed to the crew offstage.
“All them are like, ‘You can’t say that,’” Bush Hager stammered, referring to the curse word she just casually used and the expressions she was getting from her co-workers.
“Can you say it one time?” Bush Hager asked the crew, but received a resounding “No.”
“Everybody’s looking at me like, ‘Why did you say that?’” Bush Hager said with a giggle before covering her face in embarrassment.
“I would like to go on the record that my wife never said such a thing about my precious 3-year-old son,” Geist said jokingly.
“Yes, she did!” Hager protested, before melting down even more. “Now I’m blushing! And I never blush!”
Bush Hager then revealed why she thought she was allowed to swear at least once during a daytime TV broadcast.
“That’s just ‘Schitt’s Creek’?” Bush Hager innocently asked the crew, referring to the Emmy-winning comedy that used the name “Schitt” in its title as a joke.
Seeing Bush Hager’s confusion over being allowed to say “shit” in the context of talking about “Schitt’s Creek” — but not when referring to the behavior of a rowdy 3-year-old son — Geist tried to stop her from uttering any more profrane words.
“Don’t keep going down the line of expletives,” Geist said as Bush Hager sat there mortified. “This stops here! And we are live on NBC this morning.”
Bush Hager tried to move on from the hiccup by making some small talk with Geist, but began to fan herself with a card.
“I feel worried,” she finally blurted out. “Like I’m going to get a call from the boss or something.”
After some more nervous laughter from Bush Hager, she tried to move on, but brought back the incident numerous times throughout the episode.
Bush Hager wasn’t the first “Today” host who accidentally broke the Federal Communications Commission’s broadcast rules on “profane content,” which the agency defines as “‘grossly offensive’ language that is considered a public nuisance.” In 2018, Savannah Guthrie was caught saying, “Oh, shit” on camera, and later apologized for it.
