Donald Trump Defended By ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Contestant Brande Roderick For ‘On Your Knees’ Comment
The recipient of Donald Trump’s “on your knees” comment that became an issue in last night’s GOP debate is defending the real estate mogul turned presidential candidate from any allegations that he is conducting a so-called war on women.
Former Playboy model and Baywatch star Brande Roderick, a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars in 2013, insisted this morning that she didn’t even remember the remark originally made in the reality show’s boardroom. Having been reminded of it following the debate, she indicated that she wasn’t offended.
In a dialogue with Bret Michaels and Roderick during one of the episodes, Trump quipped to Roderick that it “must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees,” much to the amusement of judge and former winner Piers Morgan. See clip below.
This has become an issue as a result of moderator Kelly bringing up the Roderick comment last night as part of a laundry list of disparaging comments the Donald has made women’s looks (i.e., “fat pigs” and others) as a way to question his temperament to serve as president. Trump initially responded that he was only referring to his feud foe Rosie O’Donnell to the sound of thunderous laughter in the Cleveland venue. He followed up by saying that political correctness is a big problem for which he doesn’t have time and that it is insignificant given all the important challenges facing America. Trump added that he likes to kid around and have a good time, but “what I say is what I say.”
On MSNBC this morning, Brande Roderick defended Donald Trump from charges of misogyny.
“Like him, I didn’t even remember him saying that …I’ve always had a positive experience around Donald. He’s always been encouraging. He’s never been disrespectful to me. I don’t condone men being derogatory, but I think he’s just on television. He’s trying to be funny. He didn’t mean anything horrible by it.”
Roderick added that based on the positive reaction, the audience at the Quicken Loans Arena seemed to find Trump’s rejection of political correctness refreshing.
Several post-debate polls suggest that Donald Trump won the 10-candidate GOP debate, an outcome that ran counter to the assessment of many political pundits.
Trump has made no secret on social media and in interviews that he is ticked at Fox anchor Megyn Kelly for the way she handled the line of questioning during the debate. Megyn Kelly also received a significant amount of backlash on Twitter from many of her erstwhile fans.
According to TVNewser, the GOP debate featuring Donald Trump as the main draw did a record-setting number of the Fox News Channel, with 24 million viewers, 8 million in the advertiser-sought age 25-54 demographic.
“This is now the highest non-sports cable program of all time, the highest-rated cable news program of all time, and Fox News’s most-watched program ever.”
The second-tier debate, in which Carly Fiorina was the runaway winner, also captured major viewership.
Although not a fan of Trump’s politics, Real Time host Bill Maher recently admitted that he has a solid appreciation for Donald Trump’s “genius” primarily in refusing to apologize for controversial statements.
Do you think that Donald Trump’s un-PC comment to Brande Roderick, or perhaps any other of his off-the-cuff remarks, should or will have any bearing on the 2016 presidential campaign?
[Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images News]
