Donald Trump Lashes Out at ‘The Apprentice’ by Calling It a ‘Politically Disgusting Hatchet Job’ Made by ‘Human Scum’; Director Responds: ‘I’m Available to Talk Further’

Zack Sharf
·3-min read

Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account to rail against “The Apprentice,” the new movie from director Ali Abbasi that centers on Trump’s rise as a real estate businessman in New York City under the mentorship of Roy Cohn. Sebastian Stan plays Trump in the film, with Jeremy Strong starring as Cohn and “Borat 2” Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova playing Trump’s first wife, Ivana. “The Apprentice” opened in theaters Oct. 11 from Briarcliff Entertainment.

“A FAKE and CLASSLESS Movie written about me, called, ‘The Apprentice’ (Do they even have the right to use that name without approval?), will hopefully ‘bomb,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It’s a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job, put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country, ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!'”

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“My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died. The writer of this pile of garbage, Gabe Sherman, a lowlife and talentless hack, who has long been widely discredited, knew that, but chose to ignore it,” Trump added. “So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us. MAGA2024!”

Abbasi caught wind of Trump’s reaction to his movie and issued a response on X, writing: “Thanks for getting back to us, Donald Trump. I am available to talk further if you want. Today is a tight day with a lot of press for ‘The Apprentice,’ but I might be able to give you a call tomorrow.”

“The Apprentice” world premiered at Cannes in May. Shortly before the screening, Trump’s campaign put out a lengthy calling the film “garbage” and “pure fiction.” The campaign also threatened a lawsuit.

“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” the Trump campaign’s chief spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to Variety at the time. “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden Trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked.”

At the film’s press conference the following morning, Abbasi offered to meet with Trump in person and to screen “The Apprentice” for him.

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“I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike,” Abassi said at the time. “I don’t necessarily think he would like it. I think he would be surprised, you know? And like I’ve said before, I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that’s interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign.”

“The Apprentice” is now playing in theaters.

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