Six former contestants of Donald Trump’s “Apprentice” show gathered in New York to hold a press conference to denounce the presidential candidate who, year ago, had a hand in boosting their careers through his popular reality show.
With the exception of one — Season 4 winner Randal Pinkett — all of the entrepreneurs had been “fired” by Trump on the show. Joining Pinkett were Season 1 runner-up Kwame Jackson, Season 2’s James Sun and Kevin Allen, Season 3 contestant Tara Dowdell, and Season 4’s Marshawn Evans Daniels.
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“We acknowledge Donald’s success as a businessman, and genuinely appreciate the opportunity ‘The Apprentice’ afforded all of us,” said Pinkett said in a statement. “We, however, strongly condemn Donald’s campaign of sexism, xenophobia, racism, violence and hate.”
At the conference, Daniels recalled how Trump inspired her when she was on the show, but went on to say she doesn’t like the Trump she sees now. “I see lazy leadership. I see someone who thinks with their own self-interest and not the interest of me.”
She said she fears his “small thinking,” adding, “It’s dangerous when the loudest voices trumpet the smallest thinking.”
Daniels also mentioned a thing she called “monkey brain.”
She explained, “America is caught up in a story. Our monkey brain is turned on full-effect, where we’re just looking and we’re entertained because we live in a reality-TV-made culture. And Donald Trump is the baby that small-thinking produces. It is the lead character that monkey-brain thinking and small-thinking and cowardice-thinking and lazy-thinking and silent people — silent people produce this kind of candidate. It is a sad day for me to be someone who was so inspired and for that inspiration to turn to horror and now disgust.”
Jackson said Trump does not have the right “temperament” to be president and accused the GOP front-runner of appealing “to the lowest common denominator of fear, racism and divisiveness in our populace.” He added that Trump is “stoking the flames of our worst demons.”
The press conference was held ahead of New York’s April 19 primary.
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Trump barely batted an eye about the whole thing. In a statement, he called the former contestants “six failing wannabes,” adding, “Nobody would know who they are if it weren’t for me.”
Trump, whose “Apprentice” show ended in 2010 (“Celebrity Apprentice” ended in 2015), regularly uses his famous catchphrase at political rallies, yelling “You’re fired!” People love it.
And it should be noted that not all former “Apprentice” contenders have denounced their former reality TV would-be boss. Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth is a frequent defender of Donald Trump.
The same is true of Piers Morgan, who won the first season of “Celebrity Apprentice.” This week, Morgan predicted that Trump will prevail at the Republican convention and the election.
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Bill Rancic, the first “Apprentice” to win on the show, also backs his former employer.
Rancic told CBS News in January: “I think he’d be a great president, certainly. I’ve known him for 12 years, since 2003. He was incredible to me and changed my life. I give him a lot of the credit. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have met my wife and things would have been different for me. He gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. I got to watch him from the inside and I was able to see how he works and how he does deals and how he was able to negotiate in difficult times.”
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