The Huffington Post's Sam Stein shot down the uproar over President-elect Donald Trump continuing to serve as an executive producer for NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, calling it "such a small matter" on Thursday and noting that Barack Obama continued to receive book royalties while in the White House.
Stein appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe panel, which discussed a Variety article from the prior day that reported Trump would continue to appear in the credits for the new season of Celebrity Apprentice as an executive producer. Trump will not be involved with the production of the show and Arnold Schwarzenegger will serve as the new host.
Some in the media have expressed concern over news that Trump will remain connected with the show, arguing potential conflicts of interest may arise over payments that the president-elect will receive.
"I can't get why people are so bothered by this," Stein said after co-host Mika Brzezinski read excerpts from the Variety story. Co-host Joe Scarborough nodded in agreement with Stein and said that he also felt the controversy was overblown.
Stein then compared Trump's predicament to President Obama receiving royalties for his books while serving in office.
"Obama got book royalties from his books while he was in office," Stein said. "I mean, my only question–are they going to refer to him as Donald Trump in the credits or President Trump? Other than that, I don't find this to be that crazy."
Scarborough again agreed with Stein's explanation and defended Trump's role as executive producer, calling it an example of intellectual property.
"If I wrote a musical on Donald Trump and it went on Broadway, and then I got elected to something, even if I wasn't involved in that, that's intellectual property created before I got into politics," Scarborough said.
"I'm sure people are going to be so mad at me, but I just don't care. Such a small matter," Stein added.
The Apprentice first aired in 2004 and will be returning in January after being off the air for two years. Trump served as the host for the first 14 seasons of the reality television show. He is expected to receive royalties for an unknown amount, although Variety reported the figure should be at least in the low five-figures per episode.