$40 million Amazon documentary deal for Melania Trump slammed as corporate 'pandering'

In a move panned as kowtowing to the incoming Trump administration, Amazon confirmed Sunday that it will release a documentary about the life of incoming First Lady Melania Trump, which will premier in 2025 on its platform Prime Video and in theaters.

Puck news reported that Prime Video is paying $40 million to license the film, and the deal includes the documentary as well as a multiple episode follow-up docuseries. That's a "staggering amount of money for any figure, let alone one who commands relatively little public interest," wrote Hafiz Rashid at The New Republic.

The deal was denounced by the watchdog group Public Citizen, which called the move another example of "corporations pandering to Trump."

"I see we're back to openly bribing the Trump family," quipped Matt Stoller, the research director at the American Economic Liberties Project.

Writer Heidi Moore said, "imagine how much financial benefit Amazon hopes to get from the Trump administration if they think $40 million is an easy investment in Melania's doc."

Brett Ratner, the director of the film, has directed multiple blockbuster movies including the Rush Hour film series and X-Man: The Last Stand, but hasn't made a major Hollywood production since multiple women accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct in 2017 (Ranter has denied all the allegations).

The news of the deal follows multiple reports that Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos is making overtures to President-elect Donald Trump, likely hoping to change the script after Trump came down hard on Bezos for his ownership of The Washington Post during his first presidency and Amazon argued it was unfairly passed over for a Pentagon contract in 2019.

Bezos dined with Trump in mid-December and committed to donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund through Amazon.

The tech titan also intervened to halt a planned endorsement of then-candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in The Washington Post right before the presidential election. Bezos justified his decision, writing in an op-ed: "Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election...What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one."

A cartoonist at The Washington Post quit last week after the paper's opinion section rejected a cartoon she submitted that depicted billionaires, including Bezos, genuflecting before Donald Trump.

In a Substack post, the cartoonist—Ann Telnaes—wrote that it was the first time a cartoon of hers was rejected because of "the point of view inherent in the cartoon's commentary."

"That's a game changer...and dangerous for a free press," she wrote.

Bezos' business ventures have enormous exposure to the federal government. Amazon, which faces an antitrust lawsuit by Federal Trade Commission, holds contracts with the federal government through its cloud-computing service Amazon Web Services. Bezos' company Blue Origin has a multibillion-dollar NASA contract for a moon mission that is supposed to launch in 2029. The firm is also able to compete for a next round of national security launch contracts, the Post reported in October 2024.