Tom Arnold said in a radio interview that he had tapes of President-elect Donald Trump using racial slurs and offensive language. Photos / AP, Getty Images
Comedian Tom Arnold claims he has a tape of Donald Trump using racial slurs and offensive language while he was host of reality show, The Apprentice.
The comedian made the revelation in an interview with a US radio station.
"I have the outtakes to The Apprentice where he says every bad thing ever, every offensive, racist thing ever," Arnold said.
"It was him sitting in that chair saying the N-word, saying the C-word, calling his son a 'retard'; just being so mean to his own children."
Asked why he hadn't released the tape, Arnold said: "I'll tell you why. Because when people sent it to me, it was funny. Hundreds of people have seen these. It was sort of a Christmas video they put together. He wasn't going to be President of the United States."
Arnold, who reportedly received the tape from two editors and an associate producer who work on the show, also said the tape wasn't made public prior to the election because no one thought Mr Trump had a chance of winning.
Arnold revealed he was contacted by Hillary Clinton's camp, as well as from new Apprentice host Arnold Schwarzenegger's agent, when news of the tape's existence leaked.
"The Sunday before the election, I get a call from [Schwarzenegger's] agent, sitting next to [Clinton]. They said, 'I need you to release him saying the N-word,'" he said.
Arnold reportedly refused to hand over the tape because he didn't want to get the editors and producer fired, or be hit with a $5 million fine for violating a confidentiality agreement.
Vanity Fair, who has an ongoing feud with Mr Trump, has posted an article about the alleged tape, which features an interview with an entertainment executive who told the magazine that he contacted a man with the tape two days before the election.
"Two days before the election, one entertainment executive with ties to Clinton contacted someone in the industry who had said he had a copy of a tape depicting Trump that could create problems for the then candidate," the article reads.
"Would this person be willing to pass him the footage to give to the Clinton campaign? Since the latest poll numbers indicated it was clear Clinton would win the election - likely in a landslide - this person didn't want to risk it."
There has been no confirmation that Arnold is the man mentioned in the Vanity Fair article.
For his part, Arnold reckons the tape would have made no difference to the election result.
"I think if the people that like him saw him saying the N-word, he's sitting matter-of-factly in front of there has to be 30 people there, and he's matter-of-factly saying all of this stuff," Arnold said. "So I think they would have liked him more, the people. For being politically incorrect."
Arnold, who has known Mr Trump for close to 30 years, says that while he doesn't have a political affiliation with the President-elect, he does find him to be "sweet."
"That's the problem with him, he's so sweet," Arnold said. "He would call my house every year, every year to ask me to do the show and I wouldn't do it. And then once he started the birther thing, I was like, I'm completely out ..."
Arnold described his ongoing conversations with Mr Trump about joining the show.
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"Here's the thing, so he calls the house the last time and I hang up the phone and my wife's like, 'Why did you say you'd do the show?' I go, 'I didn't say I'd do the show.' She goes, "The last thing you said to him is, 'I'll see you in New York.'
"I go, 'What, I did? Oh my God, have my agent call immediately, I'm not gonna.' But he charms you and I didn't even realise I'd said that. So, it's frightening."
The Australian site cited a 'heightened threat level' as the issue.