Tom Arnold wants to take down the president of the United States with his new Viceland show “The Hunt for Trump Tapes,” but the comedian’s harshest words have been reserved for “The Apprentice” executive producer Mark Burnett.
Burnett and the NBC reality competition show were key in elevating Donald Trump’s profile to a national level, turning the real estate mogul and New York-area celebrity into household name who would eventually win the White House. Now, Arnold says, Burnett could be instrumental in taking him down.
In an appearance before reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour on Thursday to promote the show, Arnold said he wants Burnett to share unedited footage from “The Apprentice” that would reveal the “real” Trump.
“I’d like him to stand up and say, ‘You know, actually, we had to cut out all the lies and the sexual harassment and the insanity and the incompetence,” Arnold said. “The real [Trump] is this other guy.”
“That’s the tape I want, one 12-hour day [of filming] in Trump Tower, that room they used for the boardroom,” he continued.
Arnold, who said he wouldn’t stop investigating Trump “until he resigns,” also called out Burnett for enabling Trump’s rise.
“Mark Burnett says he’s a Christian, and he lets that man do all this bulls—?” he said. “He’s in this town making money, all these people are working for him, and he lets a sexual harasser work on his show?”
“What Mark Burnett could do tomorrow, he could go on one of those Jesus channels and say, ‘People, calm down. Donald Trump is not from Jesus,’” Arnold said. “He could say one thing to calm these people down, because they are just so racist and crazy. And their leaders are the worst people, sitting around Trump … the evangelical buddy whores.”
Burnett, the prolific reality TV producer who’s also behind shows like “Shark Tank” and “Survivor,” has previously said that he has “never” been a supporter of Trump’s political agenda. However, he has been accused of protecting Trump by withholding potentially damaging footage of the then-“Apprentice” host.
Shortly after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced in 2016, a former producer of the show ominously warned that there exists “far worse” footage of Trump. A teaser for Arnold’s Viceland show references another former producer’s claim that unaired tape from “The Apprentice” shows the president using the “N-word.”
“The Hunt for the Trump Tapes” is slated to premiere later this year. Watch the teaser below.