'Will Be Filing Lawsuit': Trump Campaign To Go Legal Against Sebastian Stan’s The Apprentice Amid Cannes Premiere

The creators of Ali Abassi's biographical drama The Apprentice, which made its Cannes competition debut on Sunday, have been threatened with legal action by Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

By Marita Pinto

Published on May 21, 2024 | 01:33 PM IST | 43.6K

Image Courtesy: The Apprentice

The Apprentice, which shows the former president raping his first wife, shocked viewers at Cannes, and the Trump campaign launched a fierce defense of the movie. A spokesperson stated that they would be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.

Trump's spokesperson states of filing a lawsuit against Ali Abbasi's film

The chief spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, Steven Cheung, stated in an interview with Variety that legal action will be taken following the global premiere of Ali Abbasi's film.

He said, "This garbage is pure fiction that sensationalizes long-debunked lies. Just like with the illegal Biden Trials, this is Hollywood elites interfering in the election knowing that President Trump will win and retake the White House over their preferred candidate because nothing they have tried to do has worked."

The spokesperson added, "This 'film' is pure malicious defamation; it belongs in a dumpster fire and shouldn't even be allowed to exist outside of the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a discount movie store that is about to close." At the Cannes film festival on Monday, Abbasi's film—which stars Sebastian Stan as Trump and begins with a disclaimer that the events it depicts are fictionalized—received an eight-minute standing ovation.

The Apprentice receives standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival 2024

Scenes showing Trump getting liposuction, undergoing scalp reduction surgery, and—most controversially—pushing his first wife, Ivana, to the ground and raping her reportedly caused audience members to gasp. The scene is a dramatization of an incident from 1989 that was originally described in 1990 as part of the couple's divorce proceedings.

In the movie, Donald Trump becomes enraged when Ivana makes fun of his appearance. She remarks, "You look like a fucking orange. You're becoming unattractive, bald, and overweight." The future president is then seen raping his wife while pushing her to the ground.

Ivana Trump detailed a similar assault that she claimed happened soon after her husband's scalp-reduction surgery in her 1990 deposition. Trump, according to her, shoved her to the ground and grabbed handfuls of her hair. Ivana first claimed that there had been a rape, but later walked back on the claim. Throughout the divorce process, Trump rejected his wife's account of the event, calling it obviously false.

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