Donald Trump proposed segregating black and white contestants and pitting them against each other for a season of The Apprentice, according to a newly resurfaced radio show.
In July 2005, the presumptive Republican nominee who previously hosted The Apprentice floated the idea of a ‘blacks versus whites’ series on his short-lived syndicated radio show.
The billionaire businessman told listeners that he “wasn’t particularly happy” with the reality TV show’s most recent season and said he had been thinking about “an idea that is fairly controversial - creating a team of successful African-Americans versus a team of successful whites”.
“Whether people like that idea or not, it is somewhat reflective of our very vicious world,” he added.
At the time, the idea of a racially divided series prompted a backlash from commentators, with UPI asking whether The Apprentice would “play the race card”, while MSNBC.com asked whether it would become “a battle of the races”. In turn, a representative for Trump responded by saying “it’s just an idea”.
Speaking to BuzzFeed News on Thursday, Tara Dowdell, a communications consultant who competed on season 3 of The Apprentice, said, “He has the audacity to say he’s a uniter when he proposed Apprentice: The Race War?”
“Best-case scenario, it was huge blind spot. Worst-case scenario, it showed [Trump’s] willingness to exploit race and be divisive — to do anything to promote himself,” Dowdell added. “The presidency can’t be one crazy, ill-advised publicity stunt after another.”
The Independent reached out to a representative for Trump for comment.
