The comedian and activist Margaret Cho recently recounted how people connected to Donald Trump tried to recruit her for television and politics. In an interview on Radio Andy’s The Julia Cunningham Show, Cho said she received multiple invitations to participate in The Celebrity Apprentice, but she ultimately declined because the offers did not sit right with her. The account sheds light on how entertainment and political circles sometimes overlap when public figures seek celebrity endorsements or appearances.
Cho also described a separate outreach at the outset of Trump’s 2016 bid: she says Michael Cohen, then the president’s personal lawyer, obtained her contact details and pressed her to be involved in the campaign. Cho emphasized her political identity, explaining that she has been a lifelong Democrat, and questioned the logic of backing a candidate she did not support. She contrasted those requests with a single instance of on-set help she offered years earlier for a show challenge.
Offers tied to a reality show
Over a span of seasons, Cho says she was repeatedly invited to join The Celebrity Apprentice, with producers telling her that Donald Trump was keen to have her on the series. Although those invitations came often, Cho declined, saying she trusted her instincts about the collaboration. She did, however, take part behind the scenes during the show’s 2010 season by assisting with a diner-based challenge because her friend, pop star and LGBTQ+ advocate Cyndi Lauper, was a contestant. Cho never appeared as a contestant herself.
Why she said no
Cho framed her refusals as principled choices: the repeated appeals to join a Trump-led program or campaign conflicted with her values and political orientation. She told the host that the idea of supporting a candidate she did not know ran counter to her public stances, adding that being asked to endorse or participate felt uncomfortable. The anecdote is an example of how entertainers may be courted by political teams, and how some public figures decline due to personal convictions or reputational concerns.
Campaign outreach and Michael Cohen
Cho reported that Michael Cohen managed to obtain her email address and pressed her to take a role within the 2016 effort for Donald Trump. She described his messages as persistent but said she rejected the approach because of her longstanding party affiliation. Cohen later became a central figure in legal inquiries: he helped arrange payments to adult performer Stormy Daniels, and during later proceedings he admitted to criminal conduct including campaign finance violations and other offenses that he said were committed in service of his former employer.
Legal fallout as context
The Cohen episode is often referenced when examining the intersection of celebrity outreach and campaign tactics. His testimony and convictions for various crimes, including lying to Congress and tax-related offenses, changed public perceptions about the extent to which personal lawyers and campaign operatives might act on behalf of political principals. Cho’s anecdote sits within that broader narrative, illustrating how outreach to celebrities sometimes took place through intermediaries who later faced legal consequences.
Cho’s career and activism
As a bisexual Korean American performer, Margaret Cho is recognized as one of the early commercially successful Asian American female comics. She rose to prominence through the 1994 ABC sitcom All American Girl, a program informed by her own upbringing in San Francisco. Cho’s body of work spans film and television—she has credits in dozens of projects—and extends to stand-up, where she has produced multiple solo specials. In 2026 she published a memoir and mounted a one-woman show titled I’m the One That I Want, which explored experiences of racism, misogyny, body image struggles and substance abuse that affected her life and career.
Public voice and ongoing advocacy
Cho remains an outspoken LGBTQ+ activist who has supported organizations such as the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the Human Rights Campaign, and PFLAG. She has not shied away from sharp public commentary: in one Facebook video she targeted South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem with a colorful rebuke and referred to Donald Trump with a pejorative description of his appearance. Those remarks underline Cho’s willingness to blend comedy, activism and blunt political critique as part of her public persona.
Cho’s recollections about recruitment attempts and campaign outreach illuminate the ways in which political actors seek celebrity participation and the choices entertainers make in response. Her story ties together entertainment history, political maneuvering and ongoing advocacy, offering readers a compact view of why some public figures accept such invitations while others, like Cho, opt to decline.