Donald Trump hits back at Arnold Schwarzenegger
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US President Donald Trump disputed Arnold Schwarzenegger's announcement about quitting as host of the reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice," saying on Saturday that Schwarzenegger was leaving involuntarily after drawing few viewers.
Schwarzenegger had announced on Friday that he would not return for a second season of the NBC show. He blamed Trump, an executive producer and former host of the show, for low ratings, describing the president's involvement as "baggage."
Trump sees it differently.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me," Trump wrote in a message on his personal Twitter account. "Sad end to great show."
The squabble then continued on Twitter."You should think about hiring a new joke writer and a fact checker," a message on Schwarzenegger's Twitter account read, responding to Trump.
NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp on Friday, did not comment on Schwarzenegger's decision not to return for another season, or on the show's future.Schwarzenegger, a movie star and former California governor, took over as host of "Celebrity Apprentice" last year. His first season premiered in January, and was watched by around 4 million to 5 million viewers.
