Schwarzenegger quits TV show with ‘toxic brand’ Festival fizzles
Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s through with The New Celebrity Apprentice, and he’s blaming US President Donald Trump for the TV reality show’s recent poor performance.
The former California governor said he wouldn’t mind working with NBC and producer Mark Burnett again ‘‘on a show that doesn’t have this baggage’’.
Schwarzenegger replaced Trump as host of the show, but Trump remained as an executive producer. The president taunted Schwarzenegger about the show’s recent poor performance in the ratings, even mocking him during an address at the National Prayer Breakfast.
The show, which wrapped up its 15th season last month, averaged fewer than 5 million viewers per episode. That was lower than any other incarnation except for a 2010 Trump-hosted series without celebrities, and it was the most poorly-rating series among the youthful viewers NBC cared most about, the Nielsen company said.
Schwarzenegger said he wouldn’t want to do the show even if he was asked again.
‘‘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 in an interview with the Empire website.
‘‘It’s a very divisive period now, and I think this show got caught up in all that division.’’
Shannon Coulter, co-founder of the #GrabYourWallet Trump protest – which aims to spur consumer boycotts of companies doing business with the Trump family – agreed. ‘‘We applaud Mr Schwarzenegger’s decision to leave the show and to distance himself from the toxic Trump brand,’’ she said.
After Schwarzenegger’s debut in January, Trump took to Twitter to say that the show had been swamped ‘‘in comparison to the ratings machine, DJT’’ — using his initials.
Schwarzenegger shot back on social media that he hoped Trump would work for the American people as aggressively as he did for his ratings.
The actor, a Republican, did not endorse Trump and said during last year’s election campaign that he would not vote for him.
When The New Celebrity Apprentice ended, Trump tweeted that Schwarzenegger ‘‘did a really bad job as governor of California and even worse on The Apprentice, but at least he tried hard’’.
NBC had no immediate comment about whether the show would return with a new host. A United States federal prosecutor has snuffed out plans by cannabis fans to celebrate Nevada’s new recreational marijuana law by lighting up on an American Indian reservation near Las Vegas. US Attorney Daniel Bogden took the hard line in a letter to organisers of this weekend’s festival, saying federal law applied and smokers could be prosecuted. Several US senators are airing concerns about the possibility of a Trump administration crackdown on cannabis use in states that have legalised marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes. Organisers of the High Times Cannabis Cup festival said it would essentially be just a concert this year.