Mark Burnett, the executive producer of “The Apprentice” said on Monday that he does not have the legal authority to release unaired footage from the show due to requirements spelled out in contracts for the show.
Burnett also denied reports that he has threatened to sue any employees who leak footage from “The Apprentice.”
“MGM owns Mark Burnett’s production company and The Apprentice is one of its properties. Despite reports to the contrary, Mark Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from The Apprentice. Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGM’s ability to release such material,” Burnett and MGM said in a statement to Buzzfeed News. “The recent claims that Mark Burnett has threatened anyone with litigation if they were to leak such material are completely and unequivocally false. To be clear, as previously reported in the press, which Mark Burnett has confirmed, he has consistently supported Democratic campaigns.”
The statement follows a Buzzfeed News report that Burnett threatened legal action against anyone who released information about “The Apprentice.” An unnamed source told Buzzfeed that Burnett “is pro-Trump and has made clear to his teams that he will sue anyone who leaks.”
Though tapes of unaired footage from “The Apprentice” have been hard to come by, the Huffington Post obtained a transcript with unaired moments from a 2010 episode in which Donald Trump criticized a country singer’s skin.
