Tom Arnold Files Police Report After Emmy Party Scuffle with Mark Burnett

Mark Burnett, the producer of The Apprentice, doesn't seem to be happy with Tom Arnold for trying to expose alleged tapes of Donald Trump using racial slurs during production of the show. Arnold contends that's way Burnett allegedly attacked him at a pre-Emmys party this week. Read on for details.

Via The Hollywood Reporter.

"First of all, how would I get Mark Burnett to cooperate?" asks Tom Arnold. "And I would never file a police report for something fake. I would never go to a doctor. He genuinely choked me out."'

Arnold, the 59-year-old actor-comedian turned investigative journalist, is speaking to The Hollywood Reporter from the waiting room of a Beverly Hills ear, nose and throat specialist, a flock of paparazzi milling outside. He's been asked the most obvious question first: Was an alleged violent confrontation with reality TV mega-producer Mark Burnett at a pre-Emmys party — the one that had all of Twitter buzzing on Sunday night — merely a promotional stunt for his new Viceland show?

No way, says Arnold. He had not initially planned on attending the Evening Before party, an annual fundraiser bash hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg and benefiting the Motion Picture & Television Fund. But his friend Bryan Fogel — the Oscar-winning director of the 2017 sports-doping doc Icarus — called him on Sunday asking if he'd like to tag along as his plus-one.

It occurred to Arnold that Burnett, 58, would likely be at the event and that things could get awkward. After all, Arnold's Viceland show, The Hunt for the Trump Tapes — premiering Tuesday — is intent on unearthing incriminating footage of Donald Trump, some of it shot on the set of the Burnett-produced The Apprentice. Burnett has long maintained that the Apprentice outtakes are the property of MGM Television, which purchased his firm in December 2015, and therefore legally not his to release.

Nevertheless, Burnett has made little secret of his displeasure with Arnold's show, and his legal team has sent threatening letters to Vice Media over what Burnett deemed to be inaccuracies in Arnold's Twitter feed, sources with knowledge of the correspondences tell THR. According to Arnold, Burnett went further, however, insisting the Apprentice producer made several calls to high-powered figures around Hollywood attempting to have the show killed entirely.

Despite the bad blood, Arnold says he never anticipated that things could get violent at an industry party attended by hundreds of stars and executives. "I thought he’d just blow me off and not speak to me," he says. "People just shun me, which I’m used to."

Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.

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