In an interview with Empire, Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, politician, reality-star, blamed Donald Trump's meddling and continued presence on the The Apprentice as Executive Producer as the key reason that the show is losing ratings.
"It's not about the show, because everyone I ran into came up to me and said 'I love the show. .. but I turned it off because as soon as I read Trump's name, I'm outta there," the actor said. "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."
Before Schwarzenegger's statement, he told Empire that, even if invited back to the reality competition, he would decline."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," he said. "It's a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division."
"I loved every second of working with NBC and Mark Burnett," the actor-turned-governor-turned-reality show host said in a statement. "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."
Trump is baggage. The Trump brand is apparently taking a dive. Oh, I can't wait for 3:00 a.m. to see what shows up on Twitter. This should be rich.
