Jeff Bezos denies having anything to do with Amazon’s Melania documentary film, but insists it was a “good business decision.” A rare interview with Amazon founder and very rich man, Jeff Bezos, has popped up on CNBC over the last day or two. As many note, Bezos’ net worth is inseparable from conversations about the ... Melania | Jeff Bezos praises “good business decision”, but wasn’t involved in it, guv’nor
Jeff Bezos denies having anything to do with Amazon’s Melania documentary film, but insists it was a “good business decision.”
A rare interview with Amazon founder and very rich man, Jeff Bezos, has popped up on CNBC over the last day or two. As many note, Bezos’ net worth is inseparable from conversations about the man, and I have no intention of separating the topics.
Specific to the film side of the interview, a question about the Melania documentary movie, released earlier this year, clearly seemed to touch a nerve. “The Melania thing is a falsehood that will not die”, he protested. “I see it reported all the time that somehow I was involved with this”, adding that “I had nothing to do with that.”
The film, directed by Brett Ratner – a man accused of significant sexual misconduct, but rehabilitated under the Donald Trump presidency in the US – is a documentary about Melania Trump, that cost Amazon roughly $40m to make, and another $30m or so to market.
At the box office, the film took in just shy of $17m at the global box office, and doesn’t appear to trouble the Prime Video streaming top ten. Bezos though insists it was “a very good business decision.”
He doubled down on this, adding that “it did very well in theatres. 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.”
Undoubtedly so, but not in the manner that Bezos is implying. As a film on its own two feet, it’s clearly covered in red ink. As an eight figure investment designed to curry favour with the current resident of the White House, it’s clearly a very, very wise business decision. Entirely uncoincidentally, Jeff Bezos was invited to Donald Trump’s inauguration, and Amazon has been untroubled by Trump’s presidency.
Bezos is estimated to be worth $272bn, and clearly needs some more money. In the same interview, he talks about how taxing the rich isn’t a good way to solve inequalities. Presumably, that wouldn’t be a good business decision.
If there was any point, this paragraph would then question how much money one human being needs to live comfortably for the rest of their life, and further ponder the ethics of people who hold inordinate sums in excess of that. But there’s no point, is there?
Presumably Melania 2: Electric Boogaloo is just around the corner. Be assured that Jeff Bezos will have zero to do with it. Expect the directorial shortlist to include Ratner, Bryan Singer and Roman Polanski. Harvey Weinstein will likely be available to produce. Michael Jackson was on the soundtrack for the first Melania; how about a bit of Jonathan King for the sequel?
