Amid rumors of more lewd Trump tapes, groups demand release of ‘Apprentice’ footage

After the release of the leaked 2005 video in which Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic by “Access Hollywood” bragging about groping women, calls are mounting for NBC to release other tapes of the Republican nominee when he was host of “The Apprentice.” At least one former producer described the still-unreleased footage as “far worse” than the “Access Hollywood” material.

Two major petitions are calling on NBC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios — which owns the rights to the show — and Mark Burnett, creator of “The Apprentice,” to release the tapes before next month’s presidential election.

A petition launched Sunday by MoveOn.org has received more than 100,000 signatures. A similar petition launched by the women’s rights advocacy group UltraViolet on Monday has racked up more than 70,000.

In the 2005 videotape published Friday by the Washington Post, Trump was heard boasting to then “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush that he could do anything he wanted to with women because of his celebrity status.

“I just kiss. I don’t even wait,” Trump said. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.”

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“If you thought the tape of Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault to NBC’s Billy Bush was bad, buckle up,” MoveOn.org’s petition reads. “Multiple TV producers are now saying there’s worse footage, much worse, of Trump saying sexually predatory and extremely racist things.”

After the tape was released, Bill Pruitt, a producer on “The Apprentice’s” first two seasons, suggested that “far worse” behind-the-scenes footage can be found in the show’s archive.

Chris Nee, an Emmy-winning TV producer, suggested on Twitter that Trump is heard using the N-word in one of the tapes, and that staffers on Burnett’s shows face a $5 million penalty for leaking unaired footage. (Nee later deleted the tweets.)

MGM and Burnett responded in a joint statement claiming that neither party has the ability to release anything. They also denied that leakers were subject to the purported $5 million penalty.

“Despite reports to the contrary, Mark Burnett does not have the ability nor the right to release footage or other material from ‘The Apprentice,’” the statement reads. “Various contractual and legal requirements also restrict MGM’s ability to release such material.”

It’s unclear who would have the legal rights to release such tapes. But Barry Diller, a billionaire media mogul and prominent Hillary Clinton supporter, isn’t buying MGM’s excuse.

“I think it’s total bulls***,” Diller said in an interview with Politico published Wednesday. “There are no legal obligations. To who? For what? I mean, the legal obligations are: They own the copyright. They can do whatever they want with it.”

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Groups like MoveOn and UltraViolet aren’t buying the excuses, either.

“Voters deserve to know just how much of a racist, hate-filled serial sexual predator Trump is,” their petition says. “Stop protecting Trump and release the rest of the tapes.”

“For years, NBC and Mark Burnett have protected Donald Trump and built his brand,” UltraViolet co-founder Nita Chaudhary said in a letter to supporters. “The American people deserve to know if Donald Trump is a serial sexual predator and racist before heading to the polls this November.”

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page was launched on Sunday with the goal of raising $5 million to cover the potential legal liabilities of those who may be sitting on more Trump material.

As of Wednesday, though, that effort had raised only $33,000.

And at a rally in Pennsylvania Monday, Trump seemed to confirm the existence of more lewd material, saying that if more tapes of him “saying inappropriate things” were released, he would “continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton doing inappropriate things.”