Jeff Bezos has defended Amazon's controversial Melania documentary as “a good business decision” while denying any personal involvement in the film. The Amazon founder and executive chairman was asked about the film during an interview on CNBC this week.
The film, which followed the first lady in the period before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, was purchased by Amazon for $40m, with Melania herself making a reported $28m. Amazon also spent about $35m on marketing. Bezos, who also attended the inauguration, rejected claims that he engineered the deal, saying: “The Melania thing is a falsehood that will not die.”
Bezos said it was “just not correct” to say that buying the film was a way of currying favour with the administration, but added: “I can see why people say this.” The film, directed by Brett Ratner, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, was released without being screened for press in January and made $16.7m worldwide, failing to recoup its budget.
“By the way, it appears it was a good business decision,” Bezos said. “It did very well in theaters. It’s done very well on streaming. People are very curious about Melania. So even though I had nothing to do with it, it appears that the Amazon team made a very wise business decision.” While the film featured in Amazon’s in-house list of most-watched films upon streaming release, no data has been publicly released.
The deal was criticised by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren as being part of “an apparent pay-to-play arrangement with the Trump administration”. Amazon denied any accusations of bribery, claiming the film had “cultural and historical relevance”.
