The gloves are off with Donald Trump – he has hit back at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Apprentice snipe through his tried-and-tested method of Twitter.
When Arnie quit his role as host of The New Celebrity Apprentice, he took the opportunity to make a dig at its former presenter, President Trump, who still served as an executive producer on the series.
In an interview with Empire, he said people “don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show”.
He added: “It’s a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division.”
But Trump tweeted his own version of events on Saturday afternoon.
Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Arnold also said in his exit statement on Friday: “I loved every second of working with NBC and (executive producer) Mark Burnett.“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.”The Terminator star has had a number of public rows with the president during his time with The Apprentice.
In January, Trump taunted the former California governor over the show’s latest series in a tweet. He referred to himself as a “ratings machine” and said Arnold “got “swamped” by comparison.The Republican later said the show had been a “total disaster” since Schwarzenegger took over, with the actor responding by suggesting they should switch jobs.When the series run came to an end in February, Trump tweeted an insult about Arnold.
Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the Apprentice…but at least he tried hard!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017
According to Associated Press, Shannon Coulter, co-founder of the #GrabYourWallet Trump protest which encourages boycotting of companies doing business with the Trump family, agreed with Arnold.
She said: “My impression is that The New Celebrity Apprentice’s poor performance has everything to do with Donald’s continued presence and the accompanying ‘baggage’ Mr Schwarzenegger mentioned.
“We applaud Mr Schwarzenegger’s decision to leave the show and to distance himself from the toxic Trump brand.”
