A former producer on The Apprentice is speaking out about what he saw of then-host Donald Trump on the set of the show, after his 20-year non-disclosure agreement finally reached its expiration. In a lengthy essay for Slate, Bill Pruitt makes several explosive revelations about what went on behind the briefcases and boardroom tables.
Among the most shocking claims in the story is that Trump once used the “N-word” to describe Season 1 contestant Kwame Jackson while deliberating about who should win.
According to Pruitt’s piece, former show judge Carolyn Kepcher suggested that Jackson would be “a great addition to the organization,” after he managed to overcome several obstacles while managing Trump’s now-defunct casino Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. After discussing Jackson’s decision-making for a few more lines, Trump then allegedly said, “Yeah, but, I mean, would America buy a [n-word] winning?”
Pruitt said the reaction in the room was palpable, writing, “Kepcher’s pale skin goes bright red. I turn my gaze toward Trump. He continues to wince. He is serious, and he is adamant about not hiring Jackson.” He also added that the exchange was caught on video tape.
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Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung called the account “completely fabricated” and said it was “already peddled in 2016.” However, according to Pruitt, he was not allowed to detail his story until now due to the legal agreement.
However, former Apprentice contestant-turned-White House staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman repeatedly claimed he used racial slurs. Trump responded to her claims by saying that Mark Burnett, executive producer of The Apprentice, told him there were “no tapes of The Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa. I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have.”
Jackson himself has contended that race is the reason he did not win, over Bill Rancic. “At the time, no [I didn’t think that],” he told Salon. “Now? Yes.” However, Jackson refused to directly address Manigault-Newman’s claim that there was a tape of Trump using a racial slur.
Elsewhere in Pruitt’s piece, he claims that Trump looked at female crewmembers “with the gaze of a hungry lion” and criticized one for being “too heavy” and that producers had to heavily edit Trump’s comments as they became “misogynistic as well as racist.”
“So, we scammed. We swindled. Nobody heard the racist and misogynistic comments or saw the alleged cheating, the bluffing, or his hair taking off in the wind. Those tapes, I’ve come to believe, will never be found,” Pruitt wrote.
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