Ex-'Apprentice' marketing exec apologizes for promoting Trump: 'I helped create a monster'
A former NBC marketing executive who promoted "The Apprentice" is issuing an apology to America, saying he "helped create a monster" by casting former President Trump, then a New York real estate developer, as a "super-successful businessman."
"For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal. I led the team that marketed 'The Apprentice,' the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City," John D. Miller wrote in a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece, published Wednesday.
Trump hosted the NBC reality competition series, as well as its spin-off, "The Celebrity Apprentice," from 2004 to 2015.
"To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show," Miller, a former chief marketing officer for NBC and NBCUniversal, said.
"At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was."
The future commander in chief, Miller said, might have been the "perfect choice" to star in the show, because "more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams. Trump had no such concerns."
"He had plenty of time for filming, he loved the attention and it painted a positive picture of him that wasn’t true," Miller said.
Miller's team publicized the show "relentlessly" — thousands of ads "spread the fantasy of Trump’s supposed business acumen were beamed over the airwaves to nearly every household in the country."
"The image of Trump that we promoted was highly exaggerated. In its own way, it was 'fake news' that we spread over America like a heavy snowstorm. I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House," he said.
Throughout Trump's 14 seasons as the face of "The Apprentice," Miller said, the "imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV."
Miller also accused Trump of exaggerating "The Apprentice's" ratings, referring to it as "America’s No. 1 TV show.”
"But it wasn’t. Not that week. Not that season. I had the ratings in front of me. [Trump] had seen and heard the ratings, but that didn’t matter. He just kept saying it was the 'No. 1 show on television,' even after we corrected him. He repeated it on press tours too, knowing full well it was wrong," Miller said.
Miller also claimed that Trump once pitched an idea for the show that would pit a team of Black competitors against white players.
"My first thought was: WTF?! I tried to get through to him by speaking the language he understands: money," Miller said.
"I explained that sponsors wouldn’t want to be associated with a show that pitted races against each other. But he could not understand why this was such a bad idea," he said, adding that the show never pursued the concept.
A Trump campaign spokesperson didn't respond to ITK's request for comment.
"While we were successful in marketing 'The Apprentice,' we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that. And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public," Miller said.
Describing himself as a "born-and-bred Republican," Miller urged readers to vote for Vice President Harris in next month's presidential election.
"I spent 50 years successfully promoting television magic, making mountains out of molehills every day," he said.
"But I say now to my fellow Americans, without any promotional exaggeration: If you believe that Trump will be better for you or better for the country, that is an illusion, much like 'The Apprentice' was."