Apple CEO Tim Cook visited the White House on Saturday night for a screening of Melania, the new “documentary” about First Lady Melania Trump. It was the same day that masked federal agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in the streets of Minneapolis, reportedly shooting him in the back at least three times, as President Donald Trump’s goons continue their violent oppression of Minnesotans. Now, some people on social media are calling for a boycott of Apple over Cook’s attendance at an event hosted by the Trump regime.
The screening of Melania in the East Room of the White House on Saturday included about 70 guests, according to the Hollywood Reporter, including tech CEOs like AMD’s Lisa Su and Zoom’s Eric Yuan. Boxer Mike Tyson, self-help charlatan Tony Robbins, and Melania director Brett Ratner were also in attendance, along with New York Stock Exchange CEO Lynn Martin, Jordan’s Queen Rania, and Fiat heiress Azzi Agnelli, according to the magazine.
But it’s Cook’s presence that seems to be sparking the most discussion online, even though this isn’t the first time the Apple CEO has been seen hobnobbing with America’s worst family.
“Apple CEO Cook attended the WH screening of MELANIA, endorsed Trump wholeheartedly and proudly posed with sexual predator and the movie’s director Brett Ratner, while ICE agents were slaughtering a VA nurse in Minneapolis,” novelist Paul Rudnick wrote on X. Ratner was accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by six women in 2017.
“Tim reportedly kept asking, ‘Is Goebbels here? Can I get a selfie?’” Rudnick joked, a reference to Adolf Hitler’s head of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.
Melania reportedly follows the First Lady during the 20 days before President Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. It was a big day for America, as you’ll recall, since Trump signed a flurry of fascist executive orders and billionaire Elon Musk gave two now-infamous Nazi salutes. Gizmodo hasn’t yet seen Melania, and Amazon isn’t allowing any early reviews, but we can easily imagine what it looks like given the people involved. Let’s just say you’re probably not going to see anything even mildly critical of the Trump family in this one.
Trump himself has promoted the film across social media, insisting it was a behind-the-scenes look at “one of the most important events of our time.”
COUNTDOWN: 7 Days until the World will witness an unforgettable, behind-the-scenes, look at one of the most important events of our time.
MELANIA: TWENTY DAYS TO HISTORY:https://t.co/rjwd5Appkv pic.twitter.com/AHD0rn1M7C
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2026
The film has been controversial ever since it was announced that Amazon MGM Studios had purchased the distribution rights for $40 million, a staggering sum for a documentary, especially one with very little real news value. The enormous payment has widely been seen as a bribe from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has seemed to come out of the closet as a far-right kook in recent years. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins were also in attendance for the White House screening, according to USA Today.
“Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos are Trump-glazing fascist fucks. If folks would boycott Apple and Amazon, we’d really make an impact,” one typical comment on Bluesky read over the weekend.
Others joked that forcing Cook to watch the Melania movie was an appropriate punishment for collaborating with the Trump regime. Cook previously delivered a gold and glass trophy to Trump at the White House and has attended several other events with the regime before the Melania screening.
“Tim Cook and Andy Jassy should be forced to watch this movie. I don’t typically support torture, but they’ve earned this,” writer Thor Benson wrote.
Historically, movie screenings at the White House have taken place at the White House Family Theater, first built by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the East Wing in 1942. But you may recall that President Trump unilaterally decided to tear down that building without consulting Congress. Saturday’s Melania screening was reportedly held in the East Room.
The film will have a “premiere” at the Kennedy Center (which Trump has dubbed the Trump-Kennedy Center) on Thursday night, and it officially opens in somewhere between 1,400 and 2,000 theaters nationwide on Friday, depending on whose numbers you believe. Eventually, it will be screened in 27 countries, according to Puck. Why the range of theaters? Puck reports Amazon’s internal projections are “all over the place.”
Reports for advanced ticket sales across the country have been abysmal, and Amazon has apparently been trying to juice attendance in extremely pathetic ways. Marketwatch reports Amazon has poured $35 million into the marketing budget, and Amazon executives are being told to get out there on opening day to prop up the film.
Early estimates for the film’s gross aren’t good. They range from $1-5 million, a hilariously bad return for a movie that cost $75 million to market and distribute. But we’ll see what happens. Maybe moviegoers will decide to check out Melania at the last minute just out of curiosity. Or maybe there will be people taking notes in the audience to ensure we never forget who’s responsible for this country’s continued descent into fascism. Tim Cook is on that list, whether he likes it or not.
It’s unclear whether we’ll see a real boycott of Apple. But as more and more Americans get slaughtered on the streets by masked agents, ordinary people are going to figure out ways to fight back through any means necessary. And fighting back with your wallet is just one of many ways to resist.
