Arnold Schwarzenegger QUITS 'The Apprentice' For Trump "Baggage" - Arnold DESTROYS Trump For

Arnold Schwarzenegger QUITS 'The Apprentice' For Trump "Baggage" - Arnold DESTROYS Trump For

Arnold Schwarzenegger has terminated his ties with "The New Celebrity Apprentice." Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Friday that he will not be returning for another season of “Celebrity Apprentice” — and he blamed President Trump for the show’s dwindling ratings. Schwarzenegger informed NBC of his decision Friday and confirmed the news in a statement sent by his representative to The Washington Post: “I loved every second of working with NBC and Mark Burnett,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said, referring to the creator of “The Apprentice.” “Everyone — from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department — was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage.” This “baggage,” he clarified in an interview with Empire magazine, referred to the show’s continued association with Trump. “With Trump being involved in the show, people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show,” Schwarzenegger said in that interview. “It’s a very divisive period now, and I think this show got caught up in all that division.” Despite NBC’s best efforts to promote the show, “when people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people [started] boycotting it,” Schwarzenegger told Empire. The actor-turned-former California governor has been embroiled in a growing public feud with Trump since January, when Trump took to Twitter to blame Schwarzenegger for the show’s suffering ratings and mocked him for supporting Trump’s political rivals. Trump has repeatedly taunted Schwarzenegger for the show’s drop in ratings, going so far as to ask for prayers for the new host during the National Prayer Breakfast: “They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went down the tubes,” Trump said. “I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings.”The Feb. 13 season finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” attracted 3.45 million live viewers, a steep drop from the 6.1 million who tuned in for Trump’s last season finale on the show in 2015 — but the ratings under Trump were already in a steady decline, down from a peak of about 21 million viewers during the show’s first season in 2004. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday he will not be back for another season of NBC's reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice," blaming US President Donald Trump's ongoing role as executive producer for low ratings. Action movie star Schwarzenegger took over as host of "Celebrity Apprentice" last year. His first season, which premiered in January, has been watched by around 4 million to 5 million viewers. "Everyone - from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department - was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn't have this baggage," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The actor's representative said Schwarzenegger would not be returning for a second season. NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp , did not comment on Schwarzenegger's decision not to return for another season, or the show's future. There was no immediate comment from Trump or the White House on Friday. Schwarzenegger, a Republican who served two terms as California governor but said he did not vote for Trump as president, told British film magazine Empire in an interview published on Friday that he was leaving the show due to Trump's involvement. News that Trump will retain an executive producer credit on the show, which usually involves a payment, caused a media furore in December about potential conflicts of interest. Schwarzenegger told Empire that the show was "a really great opportunity, but "under the circumstances I don't want to do it again." When people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people.

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