Just like clockwork, the allegations of racism are rolling in days after Donald Trump’s historic rally in the South Bronx. The latest hit piece in Slate, courtesy of ex-Apprentice producer Bill Pruitt, has declared that Trump bandied about the n-word with reckless abandon while shooting the hit TV show.
Pruitt, who worked as a producer on the first two seasons of The Apprentice, alleged that Trump casually dropped the slur and suggested that America wasn’t ready for a Black contestant to win the show back in 2004. Pruitt says the moment “still haunts” him to this day. The scene was set in The Apprentice’s dim boardroom as the production team deliberated who would win the season finale — Kwame Jackson, a Black stockbroker, or Bill Rancic, a Chicago entrepreneur.
“Yeah,” he says to no one in particular, “but, I mean, would America buy a n— winning?”
Kepcher’s pale skin goes bright red. I turn my gaze toward Trump. He continues to wince. He is serious, and he is adamant about not hiring Jackson.
Bienstock does a half cough, half laugh, and swiftly changes the topic or throws to Ross for his assessment. What happens next I don’t entirely recall. I am still processing what I have just heard.
Apparently, Pruitt has been processing the exchange right up until this year when the 20-year nondisclosure agreement he signed expired. Now, finally able to speak his mind, he has concocted an entirely unverifiable claim. While Pruitt says the exchange was caught on tape, he simultaneously believes the tape “will never be found.” It’s like Access Hollywood but without the video. Cockburn will remain skeptical until he sees some evidence and defers to the words of Trump spokesman Steven Cheung: “Prove it bitch.”
Pruitt conveniently dropped the bombshell, if one can call it that, right after Biden kicked off his desperate attempt to win back Black voters from Trump. His speech on Wednesday at a majority-black boarding school in Philadelphia is still being overshadowed by Trump’s historic rally in Crotona Park that drew thousands of Black and Hispanic voters. Private school or NYC park? It’s obvious to Cockburn whose more in tune with the people.
Aside from Trump’s racism, Pruitt’s other big claim is that The Apprentice was a con designed to “carefully mislead viewer about to Trump” — to make him seem like a big-shot, New York City developer and a real leader. According to Pruitt this was all fake . . . except for the fact that by the time The Apprentice aired in 2004, Trump was all that. Before starting the show, Trump’s net worth had soared to $1.9 billion, making him the 209th richest person in the world. Despite Pruitt’s best attempts to undermine Trump’s success, Cockburn couldn’t help but notice that he comes across as a shrewd businessman in the article. For example, he made the network pay for space in Trump Tower to set up the show’s boardroom, reception area, and contestant living spaces.
Pruitt also revealed that most of The Apprentice was scripted and edited as a part of the con— even Trump’s decisions who to fire were made off-screen in consultation with producers. He wasn’t actually the confident tough-guy NBC wanted us to believe he was. Gasp. Who would have thought that reality TV wasn’t real? For Cockburn, that’s the real take away from Pruitt’s indictment.
