Donald Trump comments: Nancy O'Dell criticises 'objectification'

Nancy O'Dell joined Entertainment Tonight in 2011

Entertainment Tonight host Nancy O'Dell has said women should not be objectified, even in the locker room.

She was responding to obscene comments made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2005, which came to light last week.

O'Dell said: "There is no room for objectification of women."

Mr Trump has apologised for the comments, adding: "This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago."

The original remarks were recorded while Mr Trump was in conversation with Access Hollywood presenter Billy Bush, who was suspended from his current job as a host of NBC's Today show after the tape was released. 

During the conversation, during which Trump was not aware his microphone was on, the presidential hopeful referred to an occasion he had tried and failed to sleep with a married woman he named Nancy.

Access Hollywood has identified O'Dell as the woman to whom he had been referring.

Responding to his remarks, O'Dell said she has been a journalist for 26 years and that it is her job "to bring you news about others" rather than turning the focus on herself.

But, she went on, the release of the tape had thrown her "in the middle of the political arena" of which she "didn't ask to be a part".

Donald Trump apologised for his comments on Saturday after the recording came to light

 "The conversation has got to change because everybody deserves respect no matter the gender or setting," O'Dell added.

"As a mom, especially our young girls need to know that their hard work, their achievements, their intelligence, their heart are most important and those things will not go unnoticed."

In the recording, Mr Trump can be heard saying "you can do anything" to women "when you're a star" and talks about trying to grope and kiss women.

After the tape was released at the weekend, O'Dell released a statement saying: "It was disappointing to hear such objectification of women. 

"The conversation needs to change because no female, no person, should be the subject of such crass comments, whether or not cameras are rolling."

Source: BBC