Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch discussed buying the rights to Donald Trump's reality show "The Apprentice" in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, newly released court documents show.
Testifying under oath in a deposition for Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox, Murdoch acknowledged he had considered acquiring the show that made Trump a national TV star.
In an excerpt of the deposition made public Wednesday, Murdoch said: “We were looking around for what in the hell do we put on the evenings in Fox Business because CNBC has on repeats of, I don’t know, ‘Shark Tank,’ I think.”
Murdoch then read aloud from a message he had exchanged with his son Lachlan, also a top Fox executive, about “The Apprentice.”
“Anyone own the format? Trump would want a fortune, but maybe worth it,” Murdoch said in the filing, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
His son told him the rights to the hit reality competition show were owned by the producer Mark Burnett, who sold them to MGM. Burnett was a top executive at MGM until last year.
The pair then met with Burnett in Park City, Utah, according to the court filing. Asked during the deposition whether they discussed acquiring the rights, Murdoch said: “I don’t know. We didn’t get anywhere near it, and I don’t think we made an offer.”
It's unclear whether Trump was aware of the discussions at the time. A spokesperson for the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment; a Fox spokesperson declined comment.
"The Apprentice" aired on NBC for over a decade. The network severed business ties with Trump in 2015, citing his “derogatory statements” about immigrants after he launched his presidential campaign.
The Murdochs' met with Burnett as Trump and some of his allies were criticizing Fox News for its coverage of the 2020 election. Asked whether the idea of acquiring the rights was bandied about to "satisfy" Trump and "bring him in the tent," Murdoch answered, "No."
He described it as "an idea we threw out, kicked around."
It's unclear from the excerpt whether the Murdochs were interested in airing old episodes of the show or producing new ones featuring Trump.
The attorney questioning Murdoch asked, "A month later, you were having second thoughts about a new Apprentice with Trump, right?"
Murdoch then read from another written exchange on Dec. 20, 2020, in which he raised concern that Trump would tank the show by making it about politics.
"Having second thoughts, Trump would turn it into a full-time campaign vehicle. Would kill it," Murdoch said.
He then told the unidentified lawyer questioning him, "We just got over the idea."
"You have a lot of crazy ideas in business. We talk about it, we do something, or we don't do it," Murdoch said.
