NBC Exec Apologizes for Turning Donald Trump Into a 'Household Name' With 'The Apprentice': 'I Helped Create a Monster'

John D. Miller, a former NBC marketing executive who led the team that worked on The Apprentice, released a lengthy essay expressing his regret for his part in turning Donald Trump into a "household name" outside of New York City.

"I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster," he wrote. "To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show."

Miller admitted that at best, their work was an "exaggeration," and at worst, it was a "false narrative" that implied he was more successful than he actually was. Prior to the show, Trump declared bankruptcy four times. According to Miller, he did so "at least twice more during his 14 seasons hosting."

The marketing expert also noted the board room used in the show was a set, "because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV."

"Trump may have been the perfect choice to be the boss of this show, because more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams," Miller explained. "Trump had no such concerns. He had plenty of time for filming, he loved the attention and it painted a positive picture of him that wasn’t true."

Miller further described Trump as a "manipulative" and "remarkably thin-skinned" man, who lashed out at those who criticized him. He also claimed that he learned very early on the now 78-year-old had a way of repeating lies over and over until people believed him.

"He would say to me, 'The Apprentice – America’s No. 1 TV show.' But it wasn’t. Not that week. Not that season," Miller continued. "I had the ratings in front of me. He had seen and heard the ratings, but that didn’t matter. He just kept saying it was the 'No. 1 show on television,' even after we corrected him. He repeated it on press tours too, knowing full well it was wrong. He didn’t like being fact-checked back then either."

Miller added, "Exaggerating ratings is one thing, but spreading falsehoods about relief work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about immigrants eating cats and dogs, about the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, about him winning the 2020 election or countless other lies is far more dangerous."

"While we were successful in marketing The Apprentice, we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that. And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public," he concluded.