Watch Donald Trump 'fire' a woman for using 'locker room' talk on Celebrity Apprentice
Donald Trump's primary response to a hot-mic recording of him saying vulgar things about women is that he was just engaging in "locker room talk" with Access Hollywood host Billy Bush in 2005. Regardless of whether men actually talk like that in locker rooms, Trump apparently has a broad definition of what "locker room" banter entails, and he did not always find it a reasonable excuse. In the third season of The Celebrity Apprentice, in 2010, Trump fired pro wrestler Maria Kanellis for complaining about Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone defecating in the women's locker room, leaving a stench behind.
In the clip, posted by The Daily Show, Trump calls Kanellis' comment "a little below the belt" and asked her, "Do you sort of regret having said that?" When Kanellis did not regret her comment, saying Stone really was "arrogant" for stinking up her dressing room, Trump said: "Isn't it sort of gross, though, bringing that up? It's like disgusting. This is my boardroom. It's not a locker room. Maria, you're fired."
There are reportedly unaired videos and transcripts from the Apprentice series where Trump says worse things than discussing grabbing women's genitals and trying to bed married women, but as long as he doesn't discuss bowel movements, maybe by Trump's standards, his "locker room talk" isn't a firing offense.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Are boomers the real phone addicts?In The Spotlight There’s an ‘explosion in screentime’ among older people – and they’re more vulnerable to misinformation
-
West End Girl: a ‘tremendously touching’ break-up albumThe Week Recommends Lily Allen’s unfiltered new work is ‘littered with relatable moments’
-
Are car headlights are too bright?The Explainer 82% of UK drivers concerned about being ‘dazzled’ as LED bulbs become more common
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
