Former Celebrity Apprentice contestant Brande Roderick this week brushed off claims of sexism against Donald Trump, who once told her on national television that having her “drop to her knees” would be a “pretty picture.” During a 2013 episode of Celebrity Apprentice, Brett Michaels told Trump that Roderick had gotten down on her knees while begging not to be fired from the show. “Excuse me, you dropped to your knees?” Trump asked Roderick. “Must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.”
Roderick appeared on CNN this week and argued that Donald Trump “meant no harm or disrespect” with his comment, which has continuously caused outrage throughout the media and Internet. “I’m a fairly attractive woman and I’m well aware of how a man’s brain works. They’re subconsciously focused on seeking out an ideal mate 100% of the time they’re awake, and that’s just a biological thing, it’s just the way they’re wired. So, when it comes to insults, I can tell the difference between a targeted insult and a subconscious reaction,” Roderick argued.
“And I filed Trump’s comment in the latter category, since he is known as a man who has a very strong libido, if may use that word,” she added. “That’s the only reason why I don’t hold it against him and believe me, if I had picked up even the tiniest ounce of bigotry or misogyny in his words that day, I’d be the loudest one out there calling him a hater of women. However, since I understand what really went on and why he said what he did, I decided to let it go and go with the ‘boys will be boys’ approach to the whole thing.”
Roderick also said that she considered his words a “fairly primitive form of BDSM flirting,” as well as that no man can be blamed for saying things “dictated by a certain other part of their bodies. “It was completely innocent and instinctive; and that’s the whole point. It was never planned or targeted, I even think he pronounced the words and only then realized what he had said. Maybe I’m flattering myself, but I would imagine that was his way of flirting with me, with just a touch of BDSM going on,” she argued.
“So, no – I’m not mad and I’m not upset and I don’t think he meant it as an insult – actually, I know for a fact he didn’t. He’s a man way past his biological prime and I’m a relatively attractive woman, so I can understand he couldn’t control himself. After all, everybody knows that men have a hard time thinking rationally when it’s their libido that’s calling the shots. So, at the end of the day, I want people to know that they shouldn’t be upset with him and that he’s not intentionally saying all those things. It’s his body’s natural reaction to the opposite sex; it’s just that the part that’s supposed to filter it out isn’t working anymore because of old age,” Roderick concluded.
