Trump says he was there when Arnold Schwarzenegger 'died', actor claps back saying 'I'm still here. Want to compare tax returns?'
Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger amped up his continuing feud with President Donald Trump after the Republican bizarrely claimed that the bodybuilder-turned-actor had died and that he was there when it happened.
Trump, while speaking at a social media summit at the White House on Thursday, declared Schwarzenegger dead, even though the actor-turned-politician is very much alive.
Trump, at the event, told the press: “MSNBC, they’re stone cold crazy. I made them a lot of money with 'The Apprentice', and I gave them a top show when they were dying on NBC. But they don’t like me too much. They wanted a big extension. They used Arnold Schwarzenegger instead. Big movie star. You know what? He died. He died. I was there 12 years, 14 seasons and then they pick a movie actor and he dies on us.”
Schwarzenegger soon clapped back on Twitter and responded with his own jab at the president's tax returns, writing: "I’m still here. Want to compare tax returns, @realDonaldTrump?” The president has still not released his tax returns.
Yahoo News White House correspondent Hunter Walker, who was at the event, later clarified in a tweet that the "president was talking about 'The Apprentice' ratings when he quipped that Schwarzenegger ‘died’."
This was the latest exchange in an ongoing squabble between with the celebrities-turned-politicians about the reality series 'Celebrity Apprentice.'
The former California governor, in 2017, had said that he would step down as host of the series because of the "baggage" brought with Trump's association, who had also hosted the series.
"I loved every second of working with NBC and Mark Burnett. Everyone—from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department—was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage," Schwarzenegger told Variety at the time.
The actor, in another interview with Empire magazine, had stated that would-be viewers of the show were "boycotting" the reality series because Trump still had an executive producer credit.
“I learned a lot, I had a great time, it was a really great opportunity. But under the circumstances, I don’t want to do it again,” he told the outlet. “With Trump being involved in the show people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show,” he said. “It’s a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division.”
Trump, however, blamed Schwarzenegger for the declining ratings of the show, claiming that the 'Terminator' actor was just doing a bad job.
"Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the 'Apprentice'…but at least he tried hard!" the Republican tweeted in 2017.