Over the weekend, social media was in an uproar over TODAY show host Jenna Bush Hager being a little “handsy” in a cooking segment with her guest host, ”Daily Pop’s” Justin Sylvester.
Chef and New York Times Bestselling author Andy Baraghani was teaching the duo how to make sticky roast chicken. Throughout the video, Sylvester creeps closer to the chef while Bush gets closer to Sylvester.
In the otherwise innocent cooking segment, Bush Hager can be seen touching Sylvester’s back and putting her arm around his shoulder. At one point, Sylverster gently pushes her away. Social media dissected the video and quickly turned to discussions of workplace harassment, and what would happen if the roles were reversed.
“People thought that she was invading my space and that’s actually not the truth,” Sylvester explains on a video via Instagram.
After the clip went viral, social media quickly picked up on Sylvester’s body language. Various users were calling out Bush Hager for being “inappropriate,” with some calling her behavior “workplace harassment.”
Sylvester has since responded. He said the push was completely innocent, but noted he had other reasons for creating some personal space.
“What we were doing was — we were both flirting — well, I was flirting with the chef because he was cute. And I was pushing her out the way so I could have a one-on-one moment with the chef and people took it the wrong way. When I tell you that girl is one of the nicest, most welcoming people I’ve ever met.”
