Donald Trump is apparently not happy with a film that documents his rise to superstardom and the dark secrets behind it, including a depiction of the spousal rape of his then-wife Ivana.
Variety reports that the former president, who was found liable for sexually abusing another woman, E. Jean Carroll, by a New York court, has sent a cease and desist letter to the team behind “The Apprentice,” which debuted at the Cannes film festival earlier this May.
“The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president,” the film’s production team said in a statement to Variety. “We want everyone to see it and then decide.”
The film, starring Marvel star Sebastian Stan as Trump and “Succession” lead Jeremy Strong as Trump mentor Roy Cohn, has not yet found a distributor, and legal action could pose a challenge for the film’s release.
Representatives for Trump tore into the film, which they called “pure malicious defamation,” promising to block a distribution deal, or face consequences.
“[The film] 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,” Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said in a statement per Variety.
Whether the specific scene was mentioned in the letter was unclear, but a defamation claim from the former president would have to prove that statements in the movie were false, and that producers were negligent in fact-checking claims, in order to hold water.
Ivana Trump, who passed away in 2022, divorced the then-businessman in 1990 and went on to describe feeling “violated” during sex with Trump.
Trump has made no secret of his tendency to abuse women, famously telling television host Billy Bush that he could “grab em’ [women] by the p***y” without consent, due to his fame.