President-elect Donald Trump introduced Saturday that he needs Mark Burnett, the British tv producer who created “The Apprentice,” to function particular envoy to the UK in his second time period.
“With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role,” Trump stated of his longtime pal in an announcement shared on his Reality Social platform.
“Mark will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges,” Trump wrote.
“The Apprentice,” after all, was the NBC actuality present that launched Trump’s title and model from the New York regional tabloid scene to nationwide and worldwide fame when its first season debuted in 2004.
Burnett is credited with burnishing the issues in Trump’s public picture by downplaying his varied failed enterprise ventures and taking part in up his actual property holdings, so the community might current him as an icon of American capitalist achievement.
Stephen Shugerman by way of Getty Photographs
On the time, Burnett had already been instrumental to the launch of the “Survivor” franchise in 2000. He went on to create the hit entrepreneurial present “Shark Tank” — which previously starred billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, one in every of Trump’s most high-profile detractors — and produced different hits like “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
But the truth TV mogul has been principally quiet about his relationship with Trump within the time since he kicked off his 2016 presidential marketing campaign.
Within the weeks earlier than that yr’s election, Burnett endured a public roasting throughout late night time host Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue on the 2016 Emmys.
“Television brings people together. But television can also tear us apart. I mean, if it wasn’t for television, would Donald Trump be running for president? No,” Kimmel stated earlier than pinning the blame instantly on Burnett, who was proven laughing within the viewers.
“We don’t have to watch reality shows anymore, because we’re living in one. Thank you, Mark,” stated an unsmiling Kimmel.
Simply weeks later, Burnett was moved to challenge an announcement claiming that he by no means supported Trump’s presidential aspirations.
“I am not now and have never been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy. I am NOT ‘Pro-Trump,’” Burnett stated in October 2016. “Further, my wife and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a very unfortunate part of his campaign.”
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The assertion got here days after Trump was revealed to have bragged that to be a star meant you have been free to seize girls “by the pussy.”
The diplomatic gig appears to point that Burnett and Trump have mended fences.
