Trump campaign outraged over queer Apprentice film, calling it ‘garbage’ and ‘pure fiction’

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has condemned The Apprentice, a film depicting the former U.S. president’s life in the 1980s, as “pure fiction” and announced plans for legal action following its debut in France at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday. According to the Associated Press, director Ali Abbasi has offered to screen the movie privately for Trump.

After its premiere, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung released a statement criticizing the film and announcing plans to sue “to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” the AP reports.

“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked,” Cheung said.

The Apprentice features actor Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, the attorney who, despite having relationships with men, denied that he was gay and had HIV until he died of AIDS-related complications in 1986. Cohn served as chief counsel to GOP Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s investigations of suspected communists before he was disbarred shortly before his death.

In response to the Trump campaign’s remarks, Abbasi said, “Everybody talks about him suing a lot of people—they don’t talk about his success rate though, you know?” Despite the criticism, Abbasi extended an olive branch, offering to meet Trump and discuss the film.

“I don’t necessarily think that this is a movie he would dislike,” Abbasi said. “I think he would be surprised, you know? I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants, screen the movie, and have a chat about it afterward.”

Inspired by true events, the film explores Trump’s relationship with Cohn, depicting it as a Faustian bargain that fundamentally influenced the former president’s business and political career. The Washington Post reports that the film includes a controversial scene portraying Trump raping his wife, Ivana Trump, based on her 1990 divorce deposition. Although Ivana later recanted in 2015 and clarified that she felt violated rather than raped, the scene remains a significant part of the film.