Donald Trump remains producer on ‘New Celebrity Apprentice’

Do you think Donald Trump needs to keep himself at a distance from the very show he helped conceived?

The surprise news broke lat night as Trump arrived at another thank you rally in Iowa.

Trump’s name will appear in the credits of the show, studio MGM told Variety magazine on Thursday, after the name of show creator Mark Burnett and before that of program’s new host, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Mr Trump’s continued stake in a TV series is yet another unusual aspect of the election of a businessman and reality star to the presidency.

Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said Friday on CNN that his ties to the reality show are being reviewed by experts looking into the president-elect’s business ties.

The president-elect hosted the successful “Apprentice” spinoff for seven seasons before abandoning the NBC hit show to run for the presidency.

The arrangement via which Trump might be paid for his executive production role is with MGM – with his former partner Burnett now the head of its television division. And as of now, NBC has ordered eight episodes of the new season, now dubbed The New Celebrity Apprentice. It’s also important to note that NBC now owns several news networks including MSNBC and owns Saturday Night Live – the late-night satire sketch show now making headlines every Sunday morning for drawing the ire of PEOTUS Trump’s Twitter account.

Conway added it was unrealistic to expect a president to only focus on being president, adding “the idea that these men are going to be all work and nothing else all the time is just unrealistic”. It’s hard to tell how much money the president-elect will earn from “The Apprentice”, because Trump hasn’t disclosed it and he hasn’t released his tax returns.

Conway responded by pointing to President Barack Obama’s golf hobby.

Variety reports that there is a precedent for presidents receiving royalties while in office, as previous executives have written books while in office.

NBC previously faced scrutiny over its business dealings with Trump. After Camerota questioned what kind of payment Trump would receive for his job as executive producer of the show, Conway deflected, stating, “I haven’t discussed that with him directly, however, there are many options”.

In keeping with his unorthodox style, Donald Trump will be the first USA president in a lot of ways.