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- "The Apprentice" producer Bill Pruitt says Donald Trump used the n-word.
- Pruitt wrote in Slate that the moment was captured on tape, but will likely never surface.
- A Trump campaign spokesperson called Pruitt's account a "completely fabricated and bullshit story."
A producer on "The Apprentice" said Donald Trump used the n-word in a moment caught on tape that will likely never see the light of day.
In an op-ed for Slate, Bill Pruitt writes that he was one of four producers on the show's first two seasons. He signed an NDA that expired this year — roughly 20 years after "The Apprentice" first premiered.
Pruitt writes that off-camera deliberations about contestant firings were filmed in case the show was ever questioned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which disallows fixing outcomes on game shows.
Pruitt said Trump used the slur while discussing first-season finalists Bill Rancic and Kwame Jackson.
As one of Trump's employees and advisors on the show spoke positively about Jacson, Pruitt claims Trump asked, "Would America buy a n— winning?"
A Trump campaign spokesperson told Slate that Pruitt's account was a "completely fabricated and bullshit story that was already peddled in 2016." The spokesperson said the claims were resurfacing due to "desperate" Democrats.
Pruitt writes in Slate that producers who'd heard Trump's remarks never discussed the incident in the moment, and he believes the tapes will never be found.
A rep for NBCUniversal declined to comment.
Pruitt isn't the first person involved with "The Apprentice" to claim Trump used the n-word.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, who also appeared on the first season of the show and formerly worked in the Trump administration, said she'd listened to tapes where Trump used the slur. Trump denied the existence of the tapes at the time, calling Manigault Newman "wacky and deranged."
Rumors of "Apprentice" outtake tapes have swirled for years.
Mark Burnett, the reality TV megaproducer and creator of the show, denounced Trump before the 2016 election. But Burnett said he had no legal rights to release any tapes. An MGM lawyer, whose studio bought Burnett's production company, also confirmed at the time that they did not have the rights to release any footage.
"MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns 'The Apprentice.' MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including 'The Apprentice.' These agreements typically contain provisions related to confidentiality and artist's rights," Marvin S. Putnam, MGM's outside counsel, said in a statement at the time.