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Jenna Bush Hager Curses Multiple Times Live on ‘Today,’ Immediately Regrets It

Originally posted on TV Insider | Last updated Jul 24, 2025 1:44 PM ET

Jenna Bush Hager kicked off the Thursday, July 24, episode of Today With Jenna & Friends with a hilarious on-air slip-up.

While discussing the early days of her friendship with guest host Willie Geist, Bush Hager recalled a comment his wife, Christina, made about their then-3-year-old son, George, while in London for the 2012 Olympics. “Christina goes, I don’t know if you can say this, but [she’s] like, ‘God, George is acting like an a**hole,’” she said, immediately prompting behind-the-camera chatter from the show’s crew.

“All of them are like, ‘You’re not allowed to say that.’ Can you say it one time?” she asked the staff about cursing. “No? Sorry. … Everybody’s looking at me like, ‘Why did you say that?’”

Geist joked, “I’m looking at you like, ‘Why did you say that?’ I’d like to go on the record that my wife had never said such a thing about my precious three-year-old son.” (Geist shares two kids with his wife — 18-year-old Lucie and 16-year-old George.)

Bush Hager stood by her story before blaming her accidental curse on the margaritas she and Geist drank at the top of the episode. However, she let another word slip while asking the crew to clarify what words she could say on-air.

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“I thought you were allowed to say it one time. That’s just Schitt’s Creek?” she said, after which several crew members shouted, “No!” (Broadcast TV shows often show the spelling of the show’s title to avoid breaking the Federal Communications Commission’s rules against profane language.)

“That’s the title of a show spelled differently,” Geist clarified before telling Bush Hager, “And don’t keep going down the line of expletives. This stops here, this stops here. And we are live on NBC this morning.”

“I feel worried, like, I’m gonna get a call from the boss or something,” Bush Hager remarked.

Though the hosting duo tried to move on to their next topic of conversation, Bush Hager quipped that she was “ still stuck in a moment.” Noticing Weekend Today‘s Peter Alexander in the studio, she went on to joke, “And here’s, like, Peter Alexander from The White House coming over to, like, shame me. I was told you could say it one time! I was told!”

Stating that “the shame is encompassing,” Bush Hager wrapped up the conversation by apologizing to the show’s staff and viewers.

Geist has appeared on Jenna & Friends all week, filling in for Bush Hager with Savannah Guthrie on Monday, July 21. Bush Hager returned to the NBC morning show the following day and will continue to cohost with Geist through Friday, July 25.

Today With Jenna & Friends, Weekdays, 10 a.m. ET, NBC

This article first appeared on TV Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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