Cliff Lipson/CBS(NEW YORK) — Nancy O’Dell returned to work Monday after being thrust into the political spotlight last week.
The Entertainment Tonight host addressed her viewers in a clip from Monday night’s show, reiterating that everybody deserves respect.
Last Friday, an 11-year-old recording of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women surfaced. At one point, Trump speaks specifically about a married woman, who was identified by Access Hollywood as O’Dell, then a co-host of the program.
“As a journalist for 26 years now, it is my job to bring you news about others, rather than turning the focus on myself. But by now, I’m sure that most of you have heard the audiotape which became national news and part of the presidential race. My name was mentioned and, unfortunately, the release of it has thrown me into the middle of the political arena of which I didn’t ask to be a part,” she said. “I released a statement on Saturday and I truly mean what I said. There is no room for objectification of women, or anybody for that matter, not even in the ‘locker room.'”
In the footage, which was first obtained by The Washington Post, Trump, now 70, is heard telling journalist Billy Bush, then a co-host of Access Hollywood, that he came on to O’Dell, but he “couldn’t get there.”
Trump issued an apology for the comments on the tape and said that they “don’t reflect who I am.” He also called the conversation “locker room banter” and claimed that “Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on a golf course.”
NBC has suspended Bush, who joined Today this past summer and has apologized for his own comments on the tape.
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