President-elect Donald Trump to Mark Burnett: You are employed.
Trump on Saturday named Burnett, who produced “The Apprentice,” because the particular envoy to the UK. A winner of a number of Emmy Awards, Burnett additionally produced “The Voice,” “Shark Tank,” and has been the chief producer on “Survivor” and “Are You Smarter than a Movie star?”
Burnett “will work to boost diplomatic relations, specializing in areas of mutual curiosity, together with commerce, funding alternatives, and cultural exchanges,” Trump mentioned in a Fact Social submit Saturday.
“It’s my nice honor to nominate Mark Burnett because the Particular Envoy to the UK,” Trump wrote. “With a distinguished profession in tv manufacturing and enterprise, Mark brings a novel mix of diplomatic acumen and worldwide recognition to this vital function.”
Burnett can also be simply the newest particular person with a background in tv to be named to Trump’s administration. He has additionally nominated former Fox Information host Pete Hegseth as protection secretary and TV character Dr. Mehmet Oz because the administrator for the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies.
His precise function as envoy was unclear. Trump earlier named businessman Warren Stephens as his ambassador to the UK.
Burnett, 64, who was born in London, helped increase Trump to the presidency, many say.
Viewers obtained to know Trump by means of the hit NBC actuality collection which Trump hosted for 14 seasons, the president-elect instructed journalist Ramin Setoodeh, writer of the 2024 e book “Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America By way of the Wanting Glass,” in an excerpt revealed in The Washington Post.
“They didn’t actually know me,” Trump mentioned. “Mark Burnett and Jeff Zucker, these two primary characters, they both get praised or blamed for me changing into president. Mark Burnett says with out ‘The Apprentice,’ I wouldn’t have been president.”
Burnett, who was beforehand the chairman of MGM Worldwide Tv Group, hasn’t spoken a lot about his relationship with Trump and averted the topic in an in-depth profile in The New Yorker in 2019.
Throughout the 2016 marketing campaign, Burnett mentioned he wouldn’t launch “Apprentice” outtakes after what he known as “continued false reporting” in regards to the existence of embarrassing recordings within the vein of the notorious “Entry Hollywood” tape, by which Trump bragged of grabbing girls by their genitals.
“Given all the false media experiences, I really feel compelled to make clear a number of factors,” Burnett instructed USA TODAY on the time.
“I’m not now and have by no means been a supporter of Donald Trump’s candidacy,” Burnett mentioned then. “I’m NOT ‘Professional-Trump.’ Additional, my spouse (actress Roma Downey) and I reject the hatred, division and misogyny that has been a really unlucky a part of his marketing campaign.”
Britain’s authorities on Friday named Peter Mandelson as its new ambassador to the U.S. with a mission of wooing Trump, avoiding a commerce battle and holding the 2 nations aligned over Ukraine.
“I’m really honored to serve The US of America and President Trump as his Particular Envoy to the UK,” Burnett mentioned by way of a spokesperson to Variety.
Trump just lately named Lt. Gen Keith Kellogg to be his Particular Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, and Richard Grenell, who beforehand served as ambassador to Germany for Trump, to be his presidential envoy for particular missions.
Contributing: Reuters.
( headline and story edited by our employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
