Donald Trump promised to sue the creators of The Apprentice that showed the embattled former president raping his ex-wife, Radar reports.
In a sudden development to come after Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi premiered his new movie, The Apprentice, at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on Monday, Trump spoke out regarding one scene in particular from the new pure garbage biopic.
According to those in attendance who watched the premiere of The Apprentice at the French film festival on Monday, Trump – played by actor Sebastian Stan was portrayed as raping his first wife, Ivana Trump, in the 1980s.
“Did I find your G-spot?” Stan’s Trump asks Ivana – played by actress Maria Bakalova – in the shocking scene.
Flash forward to Monday night, and Trump’s campaign communications director vowed to sue the “pretend filmmakers” behind The Apprentice for the startling scenes depicted therein.
“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” Steven Cheung said in a statement to TheWrap after the new Trump biopic premiered at Cannes.
“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked,” Cheung continued. “This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store.”
“It belongs in a dumpster fire,” Trump’s campaign communications director added.
Abbasi faced substantial backlash for including Trump’s alleged rape of his first wife in The Apprentice.
Billionaire Dan Snyder, who invested in the film, was said to be unhappy about how the young Donald Trump was portrayed in the pure garbage biopic.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Snyder was particularly upset about the rape scene that at least one viewer described as “violent” and “uncomfortable.”
Snyder, a longtime ally of the ex-president, reportedly demanded that the rape scene be entirely cut from the film.
But the motion picture company behind The Apprentice, Kinematics, insisted that Snyder was not involved in the cut that was shown at the Cannes premiere on Monday.
Kinematics President Emanuel Nuñez also insisted that “all creative and business decisions involving The Apprentice” were made “solely” by him and founder Mark Rapaport.
“All creative and business decisions involving The Apprentice have always been and continue to be solely made by Kinematics,” Nuñez said. “Mark and I run our company without the involvement of any other third parties.”
The rape scene included in The Apprentice was based off of a claim Ivana made in her 1989 divorce petition against her then-husband Donald.
Ivana later rescinded her claim. She also refuted the rumors that Donald raped her during an interview in 2015 – just seven years before her death in 2022.
“The story is totally without merit,” Ivana said in 2015. “Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of.”