I'm trying to confirm or refute an urban legend in the home-based
business industry.

Many people in MLM are apparently under the impression that Donald
Trump once appeared on either The Tonight Show or the David Letterman
show (depending on the version) and, when asked what he would do if he
had to start over.....he replied that he'd "join Amway" or "join a
multilevel marketing business".  As the story goes, the audience
laughed at him and he replied dryly, "That's why you're sitting out
there and I'm up here on stage".

It smacks of urban legend because the story has several variations and
no one ever claims to have actually SEEN it happen.  (Very similiar to
other urban legends that allegedly happened on The Tonight show such
as the ones about Arnold Palmer's wife and his golf balls as well as
the one about Johnny's offcolor joke about petting Zsa Zsa Gabor's
cat.)  I've looked through several episode listings for The Tonight
Show and have never found that Donald Trump was ever a guest at all.

The story has a twist.  For years, most professional marketers in the
MLM industry have made fun of the story and dismissed it as an urban
legend told by naive newcomers in the industry.  But, recently, MLM
"guru" Len Clements alleges that he once spoke to the Fred de Cordova
(producer of the show) who verbally confirmed that it DID occur, but
it was in jest.  Len says that he met the producer on the set of the
Tonight Show sometime in the spring of 2001 when Martha Stewart and
Sinbad appeared on the show.  (His version at http://snipurl.com/f921
)

So, the question is:  did Donald Trump ever appear on a late night
talk show and claim that he would join an MLM?  Or is the confirmation
by de Cordova and Clements just another veneer of authenticity on an
amusing business story?

Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by tonyrush-ga on 07 Jun 2005 08:10 PDT

I'm surprised that no one has taken a stab at answering this one yet. 
Is clarification required?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 07 Jun 2005 15:09 PDT

I took a pretty extensive stab at this. In several hours of searching,
I could not find any evidence to confirm that Trump ever said such a
thing. The likelihood of this tale being true seems quite slim,
particularly since the people who are telling the story cannot agree
on simple facts such as which show was involved or what year it
supposedly happened. Proving that something did NOT happen is next to
impossible in a case like this.

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Clarification of Question by tonyrush-ga on 07 Jun 2005 15:41 PDT

What did you find in terms of Trump's appearance on nighttime talk
shows?  Had he ever been a guest on The Tonight Show or David
Letterman (the two most commonly referred-to shows)?

Tony

It is very difficult (if not impossible) to prove that someone did not
say something, but I don't believe Donald Trump ever made such a
statement. Not one of the sources telling this tale is specific
regarding the date when Trump allegedly said this. Different sources
can't even agree on what show was involved: Johnny Carson, David
Letterman, Jay Leno, and Conan O'Brien are all mentioned in various
versions of the story.

This page may interest you:

http://www.worldwidescam.com/trump.htm

Hello, This isn't exactly proof that it was never said, but at least
disproves the facts mentioned by de Cordova's account.  According to
TV Tome, He was certainly never on the Tonight show anywhere near
2001(http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-2854),
and was never even on any late show with Sinbad (compare to
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-4012/).
Hopefully this helps.

Hobbes, thanks for your contribution.  For clarification, it was Len
Clements who said he was on the set of the show in 2001...not Donald
Trump.  Thanks.

I found this reference to Donald Trump making a Cameo appearanace on
the Letterman show #1751 on Wednesday February 6, 2002.

http://www.tv.com/show-1751/episode/117126/summary.html

I started to search for answers to this too when a company I was
interesting in joining told this story in one of their conference
calls.

I tend to believe the rumor. There are many sites out there that are
trying to bust MLM scammers. And they really do not have any crediable
proof that he did not appear.

My opinion is that there are legimiate MLM companies out there. It is
a valid business model. I know that there are good and bad companies
and I do not feel it is fair.

I know that Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad does endorse
Network Marketing companies.

This rumor has been going around for more than 15 years so that
appearance wasn't it.  But, thanks for at least finding evidence that
he's at least appeared on one of the shows.

Incidentally, my question is not whether or not MLM is legitimate or
effective.  I've earned a fulltime income in MLM for years and, to me,
that's not an arguable point.

However, there are tons of MLMers who make the claim that "The Donald"
has endorsed the industry.  It's my opinion that he has not and this
story is nothing more than an urban legend.

Thanks for your contribution!
Tony Rush

Tony

I have found 4 dates in which Trump appeared on Letterman from 1987 to
1992. I believe that would have been the time frame he said such a
thing, since I have been directly or indirectly involved in
Amway/Quixtar since 1996. The dates are Dec 22 1987, Nov 10 1988, Dec
2 1988 and May 2 1992. I got this info off of
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0874339/. IMDB.com is a great sight for
entertainment appearance info.

Bradford Cummings

Actually, this story has been going on long before 1987.  The original
story claims "The Tonight Show" and that's what Len Clements' story
also claims.  I don't see enough evidence to think it's true.

Thanks,
Tony