Nolte: Desperate Producers of Flop ‘Apprentice’ Movie Manufacture Fox News Controversy

The desperate producers behind The Apprentice, which flopped bigly over the weekend, are now manufacturing a controversy with Fox News.

Normally, anyone can understand why movie producers would be eager to manufacture a non-scandal that results in some free publicity. This strategy, however, makes no sense with the anti-Trump movie The Apprentice. Because the movie spreads the fake news and misinformation that Trump raped his first wife (an allegation she denied), the movie had already enjoyed countless millions in free publicity from the corporate and entertainment media.

The result…?

Lol.

An opening weekend on 1,740 screens that brought back a humiliating $1.5 million in box office receipts. That is a per-screen average of just $862, which means fewer than a hundred people a day attended those three or four daily showtimes. Let’s just say there was plenty of room to spread out and play a game of golf in those theaters.

Anyway, to gin up more free publicity — because I’m sure it will work this time — the producers attempted to buy a 15-second spot from Fox News during Wednesday’s interview with sitting Vice President Kamala Harris. The interview ended up being an even bigger disaster for Harris than the opening weekend was for The Apprentice.

Fox said no to the 15-second spot because they have a policy of not running those kinds of political spots during high-profile segments involving candidates. Fox said it did the same earlier in the day when Trump appeared on a Fox News town hall.

That makes perfect sense. If you want to attract guests, you don’t want them to worry about an ad overshadowing or making a mockery of their appearance. Same with Fox News. The network wants the public talking about the news that was made, not the trolling that was performed by an advertiser.

The desperate Apprentice producers, naturally, are hyping this rejection as some sort of conspiracy and a dumb, left-wing outlet that probably won’t survive another year is playing right along.

John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.