Former Apprentice Contestants Fire Toxic Trump

By R. Siva Kumar - 17 Apr '16 10:36AM

A number of former Apprentice competitors came together to "publicly disavow" their ex-chief, reality television personality Donald Trump days before the New York primary on April 19, 2016.

"The Apprentice" alumni, which included Randal Pinkett, Kwame Jackson, Tara Dowdell, Marshawn Evans Daniels, Kevin Allen, and James Sun, came together in a group in the hope of "firing" Trump from the campaign trail.

"We stand united as former candidates on 'The Apprentice,' not to denounce Donald Trump, the man, but to denounce Donald Trump, the presidential candidate's message," opened season four winner Pinkett.

Trump's rhetoric plays to "the lowest common denominator of fear, racism and divisiveness in our populace," said Jackson, the season one runner-up who has criticized the candidate's campaign since its beginning.

The harshness of their statements made Don Lemon invite them to speak in CNN tonight along with another ex-Apprentice star supporter of Trump.

However, Lemon forecast that the show would "get wild". He informed the audience that they would definitely like to see the show.

Kwame Jackson and Randal Pinkett spoke about their worry over the schizophrenic "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Trump. His supporter, Andy Dean, has also been speaking for his former boss, with mostly unfavorable reactions from those involved in the show.

Dean said that he has attended 20 rallies, and has not seen any Trump supporter stoke or encourage violence. Jackson and Pinkett, though, slammed him for not mentioning "person of color" when he spoke about diversity. They explained that "the culture of celebrity" and "fascination with everything shiny and bright" can be blamed for his rise.

In spite of a number of interruptions, Dean did get his word in edgeways. He said that six former contestants have signed a letter disavowing Trump, yet more than 200 people have been in the competition for a number of years.

What the impact of Trump's "toxicity", or not, is unclear, though. Wait for April 19, 2016, to see what happens next.