Donald Trump wants to make one thing perfectly clear: He fired NBC’s “The Apprentice.”
The billionaire presidential candidate took to Twitter on Thursday to vent his frustration with the media’s reporting of the split.
He scolded the Huffington Post and the Associated Press, in particular, for headlines like “NBC Officially Fires Donald Trump From ‘Celebrity Apprentice’” following comments made by NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt at the TCA press tour.
People don’t understand that I left The Apprentice to run for Pres–the Apprentice DID NOT leave me. Bob Greenblatt & folks @NBC were GREAT!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2015
.@AP and @HuffingtonPost should change their fraudulent story to say THAT I DROPPED @NBC & The Apprentice to run for President!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 13, 2015
Greenblatt was asked if it was conceivable that Trump could one day return to the reality franchise, to which he replied, “Absolutely not.”
“He is a lovely guy,” Greenblatt continued. “He was very much a collaborator and worked with us closely on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and, you know, there’s a really effusive great guy. We weren’t in any sort of adversarial position.”
The network did announce in June, however, that they were cutting ties with Trump and that the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants — a joint venture between NBC and Trump — will no longer run on the broadcaster’s airwaves.
However, as “Celebrity Apprentice” is licensed from Mark Burnett’s United Artists Media Group, NBC still has the option to continue the series without Trump.