The actor Tom Arnold has claimed to have video of Donald Trump using racist language, obscenities and denigrating his own son in outtakes of The Apprentice.



“I have the outtakes to The Apprentice where he says every bad thing ever, every offensive, racist thing ever. It was him sitting in that chair saying the N-word, saying the C-word, calling his son a retard, just being so mean to his own children,” Arnold told the Seattle-based radio station KIRO.

The actor and comedian said a contact from the reality TV show passed him the material before last month’s election, but he did not release it because of a confidentiality clause and the expectation that Trump would lose.

“[When] the people sent it to me, it was funny. Hundreds of people have seen these. It was sort of a Christmas video they put together. He wasn’t going to be president of the United States.”

Arnold said that the Sunday before the election Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood agent asked him to release the material on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

Tom Arnold. Photograph: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

“I get a call from Arnold’s CAA agent, sitting next to Hillary Clinton. They said, ‘I need you to release him saying the N-word.’ I said, ‘Well, now these people – two editors and an associate producer – are scared to death. They’re scared of his people, they’re scared of they’ll never work again, there’s a $5m confidentiality agreement.”

There was no immediate way to verify the claims. Arnold’s representatives did not respond to an interview request to elaborate on the allegations. Nor did Trump or his representatives immediately respond.

The president-elect presented NBC’s The Apprentice from 2004-2015 before running for the White House. Rumours of damaging outtakes surfaced after outtakes from another show, Access Hollywood, leaked in October. They revealed Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women.

Bill Pruitt, a producer on the first two seasons of The Apprentice, tweeted that there were “far worse” behind-the-scenes tapes of Trump on the programme.

As a producer on seasons 1 & 2 of #theapprentice I assure you: when it comes to the #trumptapes there are far worse. #justthebegininng — Bill Pruitt (@billpruitt) October 8, 2016

The Emmy award-winning producer Chris Nee alleged that Trump used the N-word in the recordings.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, which owns the rights to the show, and its creator, Mark Burnett, resisted pressure to make public the footage, citing “various contractual and legal requirements”.

Arnold, who used to be married to Roseanne Barr, made his claims about receiving the footage in an interview with KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson last Friday. His comments begin after the 26-minute mark.

The actor said he believes the material will emerge publicly in part because Mark Cuban, a tycoon who has clashed with Trump, has offered to employ anyone who releases the tapes.

The actor said he doubted the material would have altered the election outcome. “I think if the people that like him saw him saying the N-word, he’s sitting matter-of-factly in front of, there has to be 30 people there, and he’s matter-of-factly saying all of this stuff. So I think they would have liked him more, the people. For being politically incorrect,” he said.

Challenged on Twitter for not releasing the material himself, Arnold replied: “Complicated. Just been my career or death threats.”

Agre F-ME. Complicated. just been my career or death threats FO would've in Oct. I've Heard $ ruin death threats 4, 30 yr. Norm folks scared https://t.co/Kgi9TWTrFz — Tom Arnold (@TomArnold) December 20, 2016



