One of the more entertaining summer press tour panels was that of A+E Viceland’s The Hunt for Trump Tapes which featured Tom Arnold, who is currently in the middle of an Emmy party imbroglio news item with Mark Burnett and his producing partner wife, Roma Downey.
The incident occurred last night but may have been incubating from when Arnold laid into Burnett mercilessly back in the summer at the Television Critics Association press tour. Arnold was attacking Burnett’s alleged covering up of tapes, that could prove to be problematic for the reigning POTUS, Donald J. Trump.
Burnett’s wife, Roma Downey, tweeted a bruised hand photo she claims she received from Arnold during the incident at the Evening Before the Emmys event on Sunday night.
“Mark Burnett just went apesh** & choked me at this huge Emmy party then he ran away with his torn Pink shirt & missing gold chain. I’m waiting for LAPD,” Arnold tweeted.
On Monday morning, Matt Belloni of The Hollywood Reporter tweeted that Arnold’s attorney Marty Singer had confirmed that the incident occurred, that there was a witness and that Burnett “attacked” Arnold.
Just spoke with Tom Arnold’s lawyer. He confirmed the altercation (he calls it an “unprovoked attack” by Burnett) and says Tom “has a witness” that will back him up. https://t.co/ILO2lTixxB
— Matthew Belloni (@THRMattBelloni) September 17, 2018
Monsters and Critics was at the Television Critics Association summer press tour and witnessed Arnold’s remarks first hand.
Who was on Viceland – The Hunt for Trump Tapes’ panel at summer press tour?
On panel were Marc Liepis, Vice President, Communications Viceland; Nomi Leidner, Executive Producer, SVP Development, Viceland; Tom Arnold, Host, Executive Producer and Jonathan Karsh, Executive Producer for the series.
What Arnold said regarding the Trump base’s response – estimated at 40% – reaction to his series:
To the point, Arnold said: “I don’t give a sh** about the 40%.”
Arnold’s opinion of POTUS and his end goal:
Arnold said: “Donald Trump — I’m going to do [television show] this until he resigns. He is a crazy person. He’s putting our country on the precipice of a war, literally right now. I’m working on the show right now with people that are much more talented and much more connected than I am.
There are things going on right now that affect our world, that are scary. And I, for some reason, am in a position to do something and it is working and I am going to continue to do this until that guy resigns and the world is a little bit safer.
Mark Burnett, how he factored in Trump’s win and how Arnold’s reality show differs from The Apprentice:
Arnold added: “I love Mark Burnett, by the way, his buddy [Donald Trump] that sits at the prayer breakfast with him that has “The Apprentice,” that created this bullsh**, this guy that’s fake.
“The people in Iowa where I’m from and think, “Oh that’s the genius businessman from TV. I’d like him [Mark Burnett] to stand up and say, ‘You know, actually, we had to cut out all the lies and the sexual harassment and the insanity and the incompetence. He’s not really that guy. We cut that out. The real guy is this other guy.'”
“And that’s the tape I want, the 12-hour — one day, one 12-hour day of Trump Tower in that room they use to have the boardroom and those 18 cameras. And that’s what I want to show America that.
“And I’m going to just keep hammering Mark Burnett until he shows America that, because he’s got $500 million. He’s got a show called ‘Shark Tank.’ He’s got a singing show, America singing show and he sits next to Donald Trump and gives him cover, okay? And he never says one word.”
“And people are at the border, they’re getting their kids snatched from them and it’s cruel. And Mark Burnett says he’s a Christian and he lets that man do all this bullsh** and he’s in this town making money and people are working for him. And he let us a sexual harasser work on his show.”
“One thing I have learned from doing this show [Trump Tapes for Viceland], four times the [Apprentice] producers pulled Donald Trump out, and they had to pull him out and say, ‘Whoa, whoa, hey bud, you can’t do that on this show.’ That’s something you’re going to see on my f***ing show, okay? Is that appropriate. Anyway, it’s a comedy.”
On releasing incriminating evidence about Trump:
Arnold said: “Here’s the thing, after working with Viceland, when I first started talking to them, I said, ‘Well, what if I get a tape, can we…?’ They go, ‘Whoa, whoa. I’d have to talk to legal about that.’ And here’s the thing, we’re asking people to risk their careers. We’re asking people from ‘The Apprentice’ to risk their careers and I’m working with people that won’t risk theirs careers.”
…”And I have a question right now, Mark Burnett did a show with [Vladimir] Putin before ‘The Apprentice.’ Think about it. So maybe Mark Burnett has a ‘pee-pee’ tape and then ‘The Apprentice’ was just Putin playing the long game with Mark Burnett. I’m just going to throw that out there, probably a rumor. Anyway.”
The Hunt for the Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold airs September 18 on Viceland