Donald Trump wanted O.J. Simpson on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' but 'NBC went totally crazy'

[highplainsdem]

Source: CNN

In an effort to gin up interest in his newly revamped "Celebrity Apprentice" in 2008, Donald Trump entertained a controversial idea: bringing on O.J. Simpson as a contestant.

The proposal was quickly and unequivocally shot down by NBC at the time. The company released a statement in April 2008 saying, "NBC representatives have never considered O.J. Simpson for the next season of 'The Apprentice,' nor will."

-snip-

"Well you know, in your business, there's a thing called ratings. And, you know you can come up with a cure for cancer — I found out a lot about your business — because, hey, I'm the biggest star. I'm now the biggest star," Trump said. "So I know that if you come up with a cure for cancer, and if you put it on, and if it doesn't get ratings, they will not broadcast it."

"So, you come with a cure for a disease, no good. Now, I know this if I put O.J. on huge ratings. Oh, forget it, 35 million people," Trump said.

-snip-

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/12/media/donald-trump-oj-simpson/index.html

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More info, and quotes, that CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and Nathan McDermott found going through old Howard Stern shows.

Trump refused to directly answer Stern's question about whether he'd talked directly to Simpson, said he wouldn't go into details. But he assured Stern that Simpson would have done the show.

[msanthrope]

1. I guess Charles Manson was unavailable? nt

[LeftInTX]

2. He should have just made him his running mate

That would have been kinda fun.

[jmowreader]

13. I think there's a law says you can't run for VP from a Nevada prison cell

He won't get out for another year.

[Elmergantry]

3. But really

the glove didn't fit, so we had to acquit.

[mainstreetonce]

4. Does Cosby

attend Trump rallies?

[texasfiddler]

5. He was shackled by NBC

Those are the types of decisions we can expect to see in the coming weeks.

[closeupready]

6. And he claims Hillary is the one with bad judgment.

Irony is a man named Donald Trump.

[dawnie51]

7. NBC has aided and abetted Trump for years.....

don't tell me they didn't know what he was up too, via the stupid reality show, or the pageants, or any number of enfotainment shows they booked him on. They couldn't get enough of this old serial abuser, cause they wanted the ratings. Now the ratings are done, and they have no further use for him. And he's so toxic that they can't hide his crap anymore. NBC deserves whatever happens to them.

[randome]

8. Maybe that's why they're sitting on the tapes: fear of lawsuits.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]

[turbinetree]

10. Exactly look no further than when the morning coffee "guy"

was giving this "guy" a pass, up until recently (me thinks) I don't watch, but what I saw early on, (eighteen mouths ago) it was disgusting.

[Marthe48]

12. Curiosity-Why not Trump and Fox?

That seems like a better match than NBC

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. What was he trying to say about cancer? It doesn't relate to anything about ratings

or Simpson, and he's talking to Howard Stern, not a doctor or biologist. This seems like someone with dementia.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. Here's a picture of Kellyanne Conway smiling.

Does that help?

[tblue37]

14. His point is that ratings are all that matters. A cancer cure wouldn't matter without ratings.

His OJ idea, he thought, would bring super ratings, so it mattered and should have been greenlighted.