Arnold Schwarzenegger backed off comments that he wants to “smash” President Donald Trump’s “face into the table,” calling it “fake news.”
The former governor of California told Variety magazine that his words from an interview with Men’s Journal, in response to Trump’s criticism about the decline of the ratings for “Celebrity Apprentice” with the actor as the host, were meant in a “joking way.” (RELATED: Arnold Schwarzenegger Wanted To ‘Smash Trump’s Face In’ After Criticism Of Low ‘Apprentice’ Ratings)
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“Writers want to create sensationalistic things and blow things up,” Schwarzenegger responded. “One has to be very careful because I always try to say things in a classy way, and not to give the impression that I want to be physical and do this to the president. I have too much respect for the presidency.”
“I want to make sure that what I do represents the things I am,” he added.
In the Men’s Journal article, the 69-year-old actor mentions wanting to cause physical harm to the president.
“I said, ‘Let’s sit on it for an hour,'” Schwarzenegger told Men’s Journal. “I called my assistant and said, ‘I think what we really should do is request a meeting and go back to New York. And then we just smash his face into the table.’ Then I think we can’t do that, either. I think I have to be above all of that and put him on the spot.”
The actor noted that he said similar things in a recent podcast that went unnoticed.
“If I would have responded right away I would have said, ‘Don’t go into a stinking contest with a skunk,'” Schwarzenegger told the host. “But then I said to myself, ‘Well maybe that is not the right answer, and it really doesn’t say anything.’ So let me wait a little bit.”
“And then slowly but surely I went through different stages and I said to myself at one point, ‘Maybe I should just go back East and just hit his head against the table or something like that,'” he added. “Then I thought, ‘Don’t be stupid. Let’s get out of that one.’ Eventually I came up with something where I talk about, ‘This is a lot of energy he put in there to compete about the ratings. I hope he puts all the energy in serving all of the people in America.'”