Yadda yadda yadda VICELAND has a show where Tom Arnold is looking for the “Trump tapes,” a.k.a. footage or audio recordings of the president saying or doing fucked-up shit. You know where fucked-up shit probably occurred? On the set of the reality TV show he hosted, The Apprentice. He allegedly said all kinds of grotesque things—including telling one female contestant, “It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees”—but no one has ever uncovered the actual never-aired footage of those remarks. What else do you want to know?
Q: HOW DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE ‘APPRENTICE’ TAPES?
A: After the Access Hollywood tape came out, former Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt tweeted that there were “far worse” tapes from Trump’s time on that show. When VICELAND reached out to former Apprentice crew members, they talked in anonymous interviews about Trump allegedly ogling women on set and using racial slurs. But very few crew members are comfortable speaking on the record about these things for fear of breaking nondisclosure agreements and losing work in the industry, where discretion is a highly valued skill.
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Q: SO WHAT’S ON THESE TAPES?
A: We don’t know.
Q: WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR THE TAPES TO COME OUT?
A: It comes down to who owns them. Mark Burnett, the brains behind shows like Survivor, The Voice, and The Apprentice is now chairman of MGM Studios, the company that owns The Apprentice and all its historical footage. Burnett is also Trump’s buddy, though a month before the 2016 election, Burnett insisted in a statement that he was “NOT ‘Pro-Trump,’” saying, “I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy.” But that same month, both BuzzFeed News and the Daily Beast reported that Burnett had allegedly threatened to sue employees who released any unaired footage of The Apprentice that could damage Trump.
MGM released a statement claiming Burnett didn’t have the legal right to release the tapes due to “various contractual and legal requirements,” but others have disputed this claim, including media mogul Barry Diller, who told Politico that the statement put out by MGM and Burnett was “total bullshit” and that there was absolutely no legal obligation not to release the outtakes.
The tapes may come out thanks to a lawsuit from Summer Zervos, who is suing Trump for defamation after he called her a liar for saying he sexually harassed her. Zervos’s lawyers have requested MGM turn over all documents, video, or audio that feature Zervos and Trump talking, Trump talking about Zervos, or—and here’s the kicker—any recording where Trump talks about women “in any sexual or inappropriate manner.” That lawsuit is ongoing.
You know what else is ongoing? That’s right,The Hunt for the Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold airing Tuesdays on VICELAND.
