Billy Bush reveals he tried to out Ricky Martin but destroyed footage

As an entertainment reporter for decades, Billy Bush has had countless encounters with celebrities. But his first with Ricky Martin he recalls as “the most uncomfortable celebrity situation I ever had.”

He said on a recent episode of podcast Literally! with Rob Lowe that it took place around the time Martin released his massive hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca” off his self-titled 1999 album.

“I was young and working out of New York the first couple years on Access HollywoodEast 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,” Bush said. “I know Barbara Walters had asked him about his sexuality. I’m like, ‘Wouldn’t that be a big news maker?'”

Bush said that, 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. He said they wanted to know if he was gay.

When he finally sat down for the interview, Bush asked that question. To hear him tell it, Martin swiftly removed his microphone.

“He gets up and he walks off the set,” Bush said, “and I’m sitting there going, ‘Oh s—.'”

Let’s just say he received some angry phone calls from the higher-ups. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

“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.”

Bush said that he went back to where he had interviewed Martin. Without microphones. He quickly found himself with only Martin. Bush apologized.

“I’m like, ‘Ricky, I am so sorry for asking that question,'” Bush 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.'”

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He quipped, “I should have smashed another one.”

Bush said Martin told him them that there would be a time and a place for him to talk about his sexuality — he came out publicly in 2010after welcoming sons — but it would not be on Bush’s show at that time. He forgave him and gave him a hug.

He did the same when they encountered one another two years later.

Bush said he’d learned a “valuable lesson” from the experience. It was simply, “Don’t be an a–hole. Don’t be an idiot.”

EW has reached out to reps for Martin.

Listen to Bush and Lowe’s full conversation above.