Tom Arnold got into a physical fight with Apprentice producer Mark Burnett and his wife, Roma Downey, at a pre-Emmys party on Sunday, September 16.
“Mark Burnett just went apes–t & choked me at this huge Emmy party then he ran away with his torn Pink shirt & missing gold chain,” the Roseanne alum tweeted. “I’m waiting for LAPD.”
Mark Burnett just went apeshit & choked me at this huge Emmy party then he ran away with his torn Pink shirt & missing gold chain. I’m waiting for LAPD
— Tom Arnold (@TomArnold) September 17, 2018
The former Touched By an Angel actress, 58, took to Twitter shortly afterward to share a photo of a bruised hand and wrote, “Got this bruise tonight when Tom Arnold tried to ambush my husband Mark and me at a charity event. Is your TV show worth it Tom?Please stop.”
Got this bruise tonight when Tom Arnold tried to ambush my husband Mark and me at a charity event. Is your TV show worth it Tom?Please stop pic.twitter.com/lXvuKjIMI2
— Roma Downey (@RealRomaDowney) September 17, 2018
Arnold replied to Downey’s tweet, writing, “Bulls—t. You lie your crazy husband attacked me you psycho. I’m filing police report & suing you for defamation.”
He added that there is video of the altercation, tweeting, “Roma knocked Bryan Fogel’s phone out of his hand after Mark Burnett chocked me. Bryan came with me. He won the Oscar this year for his amazing documentary Icarus. He has tape.”
Marty Singer, Arnold’s lawyer confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the incident occurred and claimed that Burnett “attacked” Arnold. Variety reports that the incident happened at the Evening Before Emmy party, a fundraiser for the Motion Picture Television Fund, as Arnold and Burnett were walking into the event.
Comedian Patton Oswalt later tweeted a selfie with the True Lies star, captioning it, “I’m with @TomArnold, everyone. He’s okay. We gotta protect this brutal angel.”
I’m with @TomArnold, everyone. He’s okay. We gotta protect this brutal angel. pic.twitter.com/9grT4QTVZK
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 17, 2018
Alyson Hannigan, who was also attending the event, tweeted that the fight broke out in front of her as she was walking into the party behind Arnold. “I thought it was a joke until security jumped in!” she wrote, adding that Survivor host Jeff Probst tried to jump in and break it up.
Jeff Probst tried to break it up…CRAZY!!!
— alyson hannigan (@alydenisof) September 17, 2018
Arnold, 59, and Burnett, 58, have been at odds over his new show, The Hunt for the Trump Tapes, which is set to premiere on Viceland on Tuesday, September 18.
The show documents Arnold’s attempts to find tapes that he says show Donald Trump expressing bigoted views on the set of The Apprentice, which Burnett executive-produced.
Arnold claimed during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last month that the president “says the N-word” and calls his son Eric Trump “the R-word.”
“There’s two people who have never called me a liar about the N-word tape: Donald Trump and Mark Burnett, because they know it’s true,” he said. “Mark Burnett can do something. He does nothing because he’s the best friend of the president. He sits next to him at a prayer breakfast.”
Former White House staffer and Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault also claimed in her book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House, that the real estate mogul used the N-word on the set of The Apprentice.
Burnett said in a statement to Us Weekly in 2016 that he “does not have the ability nor the right” to release any tapes.
Trump also denied the existence of the tapes on August 13, tweeting, “@MarkBurnettTV called to say there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa.”
