Holly Robinson Peete believes President Donald Trump called her the N-word a decade ago.
Peete star was a guest on SiriusXM Urban View’s The Karen Hunter Show where she recalled her “unique” experience working with the current president on Celebrity Apprentice. The 21 Jump Street star, who competed against Bret Michaels in the 2010 finale, said she spent about a month with Trump.
“He hadn’t really quite started that whole birther thing yet,” Peete noted, referring to Trump’s attacks on former president Barack Obama, or she never would have gone on the show.
“It was a very interesting experience,” Peete added. “It was a trip and kind of messy and stuff. I found him to be kind of piggish and bullish and stuff, but I didn’t find him to be just this... who he is now. I did not see that. So, I think the combination of power and corruption and all that stuff just made him go to that next level.”
Overall, the Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper star said Trump was “kind of lovely” — to her face.
“Shortly after the finale, rumors started going around that he had tossed out an N-word in referring to me. And I was like, ‘Huh?’ And then when the producer told me when it happened during the finale. I remember the moment,” Peete said of when she thinks Trump used the slur.
“I wasn’t in earshot, but I could see them deciding between me and Bret Michaels,” she continued. “There was a moment where [Trump] was talking with producers and they’re really animated and that was when I heard that he said, ‘They want the N-word to win.’ Because I guess the network wanted me to win or me to be chosen, and Trump wanted Bret. And the quote was, ‘They want the N-word to win.’”
There have long been rumors that tapes exist of Trump saying the N-word during his 14-season run as host of The Apprentice. But there’s no proof any actually exist. He has denied making racist remarks and most recently declared himself the “least racist person.” That doesn’t track to Peete, though.
“You know, how could anybody believe that he wouldn’t say something like that? I firmly believe he probably uses that language all the time,” she shared.
Peete said she didn’t address the rumors because she didn’t think her story would make a difference.
“By the time [the rumors] sort of started resurfacing, I didn’t even really address it too much because I felt like, what difference is it going to make? People have accepted the things that he said that are so vile about so many other people, what difference is it going to make if he said that about me,” Peete shared.
