Maria Kanells Reflects On Apprentice Firing For ‘Locker Room Talk’

As Donald Trump continues to face a political backlash for remarks he has referred to as “locker room talk”, Maria Kanellis, a former contestant on Trump’s reality show Celebrity Apprentice, was fired from the show for remarks Trump also described as suited for the locker room.

“He fired me for what I said, and what he said was much worse so,” Kanellis told Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday. “My hope is that he gets fired as the Republican nominee.”

Trump came under fire about a week ago when audio was released of some of his remarks from 2005 regarding his comments about women and citing his celebrity as justification of “you can do anything” with females. 

On Monday, The Daily Show aired a clip from Celebrity Apprentice where Kanellis derided celebrity chef Curtis Stone, saying, “The reason why I said you were so arrogant was because you came in our dressing room and you took a crap and left the stench in the room.”

Trump criticized Kanellis for the remarks later in the episode, saying, “This is my boardroom, it’s not a locker room,” before delivering his “you’re fired” catchphrase.

Kanellis told ET that she didn’t really “make the connection” between Trump’s comments on the show and his remarks from 2005  when firing her and his dismissal of his misogynistic 2005 remarks until she saw an article about it on Monday.

“When I first saw it I was astounded that anybody remembered it,” she said. “But then again, we are talking about a presidential nominee. When he is a hypocrite about things that he says, I guess then it starts to become a news story.”

Kanellis, who has been in wrestling for more than a decade with WWE, Ring Of Honor and now TNA, said she did not view Trump’s 2005 comments as “locker room talk.

“I have been in locker rooms for the past 12 years in wrestling companies,” she said. “I have been backstage, I have been in green rooms and I have never heard anyone talk like that.

“When you are trying to become president, you are held to a higher standard. Even if you have a past. You should have been a little bit more careful, you should have never said those type of things if you want to hold the highest office in the United States of America,” she added. “So I don’t think it was locker room talk, I think it was assault.”

Maria is a former TNA Knockouts Champion, just losing the belt two weeks ago at Bound For Glory.