13:48 PST 1/25/2021
in
Alex Weprin
Revenue from ‘The Apprentice’ and waste from films like ‘Home Alone 2’ and ‘The Little Rascals’ fell significantly during his last year in office.
Former President Donald Trump, who was a well-established media and entertainment personality for decades before winning the 2016 presidential election, saw his Hollywood income drop dramatically during his last year in office.
That is, according to Trump’s financial disclosure forms, which he submitted to the United States Government Ethics Office on January 15, just a few days before leaving office for his resort in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach (which he values at more than $ 50 million).
Throughout his presidency, Trump continued to benefit financially from his connections with Hollywood, including pensions from the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (each secured before the union merger in 2012), residual payments from a series of TV shows, movies like The Little Rascals (in which Trump played “Father of Waldo”), Home Alone 2, and perhaps most significantly, payments related to the NBC reality show The Apprentice.
In fact, during all the years of his presidency, Trump received a seven-digit payment from Trump Productions (his production company that had a 50% stake in the program) – that is, until last year.
Trump’s Apprentice payments peaked in 2018, when he received more than $ 2 million, and in 2019 dropped to just over $ 1.6 million. Last year, however, payments fell to just $ 275,000, according to the latest disclosure forms. While the lawsuit does not detail why Trump Productions’ revenue fell so much, it is likely to be linked to the distribution rights and reruns on the reality show.
In addition, Trump’s residual payments for his other films and TV appearances, while always small, have fallen further. His Little rascals the residual fee, which earned him up to $ 1,000 in 2019, dropped to less than $ 200 in 2020. Warner Bros. waste. and Entertainment Partners also fell into the lowest income category, which covers payments between $ 0.01 and $ 200.
Trump’s pensions of SAG ($ 84,292) and AFTRA ($ 9,451) increased slightly in 2020. Trump began participating in the SAG plan in 1992, when he appeared in Home Alone 2, and in the AFTRA plan in 1989, when it appeared on the flop Ghosts can’t do this (winning a Razzie award, in addition to his AFTRA pension).
Although Trump is facing a possible expulsion from the SAG, it probably would not affect his pension.
The collapse of his media revenue extends even to his books. In his first year in office, he had two books that earned him $ 1 million in revenue: The Art of Business and It’s time to get hard. Another book, Crippled America, earned him between $ 1 million and $ 5 million. During his last year in office, however, while The Art of Business while still generating between $ 100,000 and $ 1 million in revenue, none of his other 14 books generated any significant revenue.
His final disclosure filing included some new additions, however: Gifts that Trump received while in office. They include a $ 650 MAGA UFC fighter champion belt, valued at $ 650, a bronze bust of Mount Rushmore (with Trump’s face added to it) by South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, valued at $ 1,100, and a Mac Pro computer (the first one assembled in Austin, Texas) presented to Trump by Apple CEO Tim Cook, valued at $ 5,999.