Forgive the obvious opener, but…
… Arnold Schwarzenegger will NOT be back.
The actor-turned-Govenor-turned-reality-TV-host said hasta la vista, baby to Celebrity Apprentice on Friday, announcing that he will not return to the NBC series for a second season.
The star, of course, took over for Donald Trump as host for the latest installment of this franchise.
And that was basically the entire problem Schwarzenegger explained via statement.
“I loved every second of working with NBC and Mark Burnett,” the 69-year old said, adding:
“Everyone – from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department – was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage.”
Ah, yes. This baggage.
Schwarzenegger is referring to the fact that Donald Trump stayed on as Executive Producer of Celebrity Apprentice, despite being elected President of the United States in November.
This cast a controversial shadow over the program before it even premiered in January.
“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,” Arnold continued.
“It’s a very divisive period now, and I think this show got caught up in all that division.”
It didn’t exactly help that Trump actively trash-talked his predecessor over the show’s dwindling ratings.
“Wow, the ratings are in and Arnold Schwarzenegger got ‘swamped’ (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT,” Trump Tweeted on Friday, January 6.
He added at the time:
“So much for being a movie star-and that was season 1 compared to season 14. Now compare him to my season 1. But who cares, he supported [John] Kasich & Hillary [Clinton].”
Schwarzenegger responded by slamming Trump as a “skunk,” and later tweeted to the commander in chief himself:
“I wish you the best of luck and I hope you’ll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings.”
Celebrity Apprentice did struggle in the ratings this season, but it also decreased over the course of Trump’s run.
NBC has yet to pick up the show for another run, following Matt Iseman emerging victorious in the season finale that aired last month.
In another Tweet, Schwarzenegger addressed Trump as follows:
“Please study this quote from [Abraham] Lincoln’s inaugural, @realDonald Trump. It inspired me every day I was Governor, and I hope it inspires you.”
Schwarzenegger then went ahead and read the quote in a video. This is what it said:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Did you choose a side in this Trump vs. Schwarzenegger feud?
Or will you be happy when both just go away?