Despite claims from Tom Arnold and Omarosa Manigault-Newman that assert there’s physical evidence of Donald Trump using racially insensitive language during his stint as host of The Apprentice, a new feature in The New Yorker argues tapes of those moments — tapes that people have been trying to obtain for years — don’t actually exist. Speaking with numerous editors and producers of the reality show throughout its multi-season run, the staffers revealed that while Trump had a history of making inappropriate sexual comments to people, Arnold and Manigault-Newman are mistaken that tapes containing racist remarks will ever be exposed to the public.
“I was the supervising editor on the first six seasons. I didn’t watch every frame, but in everything I saw, I didn’t hear him saying anything so horrible,” editor Jonathan Braun explained, referring to the widely circulated rumor that a tape of Trump saying the N-word exists. “If there was a tape, it would have spread like wildfire.” Another staffer echoed Braun’s comments, adding Apprentice personnel loathed working with the future president. “If somebody had the goods, it would have leaked long ago,” the unnamed person said. “There were no Trump fans on the set. I don’t know a single person who worked on the show who voted for Trump.” Now we can channel our energy into another, more golden-y tape instead.