Arnold Schwarzenegger defends ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ as ‘not a political show’
While you await the new season of “The Celebrity Apprentice” premiering next year with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former California Governor clearly wants you to know one thing: You really should separate what he’s doing from anything going on at the moment with President-elect Donald Trump, and the newly-found executive producer credit that he has on the show.
Schwarzenegger appeared in front of the press on Friday to discuss the show at length, which is one of the first times in which he’s done so since signing on for the role. Specifically, he did his part (per Entertainment Weekly) that he wants the show to get higher ratings than even Trump’s version, but at the same time, he’s not out to make any political statements here at all:
“It’s not a political show. We make no comments about politics … When I was building a career in Hollywood and I was a Republican, everyone said, ‘Arnold you are going to fail because Hollywood is a very liberal town.’ My beliefs are my beliefs. And you know what? They don’t judge you by your politics in the end. People went to see my movies because they enjoyed the movies.”
We do understand Arnold’s argument, and in many ways it is valid that you should be able to enjoy this new show even if you’re not much of a fan of Trump’s or share any Republican beliefs. We even agree with that statement if the show remains the same in tone as it was the past few years. Yet, the movie analogy probably doesn’t work completely here given that while Arnold has had his fair share of controversy over the years, at the same time opinions were never as politically-charged as they are around Trump. If viewers tune out the show thinking that watching it is in turn supporting the President-elect, who are we to say they are wrong? To use Arnold’s own words, their beliefs are their beliefs, and nobody can tell them otherwise that it is wrong.
Yesterday, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway also chimed in with her own thoughts, saying that him being an executive producer on the show potentially is no different than any other former President having hobbies. You can read more about that by heading over to the link here. (Photo: NBC.)