David M Jackson

USA TODAY

Former contestants on the show that made Donald Trump a TV star — The Apprentice — are now denouncing their former patron as he pursues the presidency.

Randal Pinkett, who actually won The Apprentice in Season 4, said he and other contestants "acknowledge Donald's success as a businessman," they also "strongly condemn Donald's campaign of sexism, xenophobia, racism, violence and hate."

Pinkett and five other former Apprentice players appeared at a news conference Friday in New York City, and all denounced Trump's campaign tactics.

"What 'makes America great' is a unified commitment to inclusion," said Marshawn Evans Daniels, a Season 4 contestant. "Trump is passionately and strategically reigniting a dirty and divisive culture soaked in a history of prejudice, fear and hate."

Tara Dowdell, a Season 3 contestant, said of Trump: "It would be irresponsible for us not to condemn his hateful rhetoric given its real world implications particularly the racial resentment and accompanying violence that we have seen at his rallies."

It should be noted: Many other former Apprentice contestants have endorsed Trump, and spoken at his rallies.

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