You can't fire Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger fires you!
That's because the former California governor has just quit NBC's The New Celebrity Apprentice after wrapping up its season last January.
What's more, the Terminator star blames the show's forerunner, current president of the United States and number one critic of the show, Donald Trump for the show's less than impressive ratings. It's not exactly a surprising reaction from the star given that Trump has poked Arnold's hosting of the show just earlier in February.
Rumors Confirmed
In an exclusive interview with Empire, Schwarzenegger confirmed the rumors and reports that the show's sponsors have been pulling out of the production. In the same interview, he explained that Trump has a huge part in why the show did not quite get the ratings that they were expecting.
"When people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people [started] boycotting it," said Schwarzenegger in the interview. "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."
Though the details of his departure as well as the show's future is still unclear, Schwarzenegger clearly states his love for the show, the network, its creators, staff, and crew. However, he maintains that he will no longer do the show even if the network asks him to.
Trump-Schwarzenegger Feud
Early in February Trump, who was already the president of the United States by then, mocked Schwarzenegger's hosting of the show and the low ratings that it's been getting compared to his running of the show. Schwarzenegger then responded in kind with a video tweet that expressed his message for the president, saying : "Why don't we switch jobs?"
The National Prayer Breakfast? pic.twitter.com/KYUqEZbJIE
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 2, 2017
When the tweet came out, some believed that this was a ploy to boost the show's ratings, what with Trump staying on board as the show's executive producer. Now, however, the current standing of the show seems to point to a different direction.
This wasn't the first time that Schwarzenegger was vocal about his opinions on Trump as even before the elections, he has stated his criticisms of Trump and even posted his presidential endorsement of John Kasich via Snapchat.
