‘The Apprentice’ Not Being Released in UAE Cinemas to Appease Trump

Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as the businessman and former U.S. president, is skipping its planned release in cinemas in the United Arab Emirates — and also Kuwait — possibly for political reasons.

Ali Abbasi’s film, which follows Trump’s rise to fame and his time learning from influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong), was scheduled to debut in United Arab Emirates cinemas on Oct. 16. But Front Row Filmed Entertainment, “The Apprentice’s” Dubai-based distributor, confirms to Variety that the release has not happened. The film has also been removed from UAE cinema websites, which were promoting it last week.

However, Front Row chief Gianluca Chakra said “The Apprentice” has passed censorship and will be released in Saudi Arabia — where censors have cut the scene in which Trump violently throws his then-wife Ivana, played by Maria Bakalova, to the ground and proceeds to have non-consensual sex with her — and will also be released in Oman, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.

Chakra said he has not received an official certificate from UAE censors that “The Apprentice” has been banned in the Emirates, but that there is currently a de-facto block on the film’s release. Representatives for UAE’s National Media Council did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

Chakra declined to comment on the reason why the UAE seems to be taking this different stance.

Trump had good relations with the UAE during his time in office. In the final days of his presidency, he signed off on a landmark deal to provide the country with F-25 warplane and armed drones, but talks fell apart under the Biden administration. According to a report in Reuters last month, the UAE would seek to revive the multi-billion dollar deal if Trump won a second term. In September, UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with Trump as part of an official visit to the U.S., expressing his appreciation for Trump’s efforts to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries. In recent months, the UAE has also come under scrutiny by U.S. Democrats over its covert support for paramilitary fighters in Sudan.

Trump has slammed “The Apprentice,” which last weekend bombed at the U.S. box office, calling it a “cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job.”

In his review, Variety critic Owen Gleiberman called “The Apprentice” “sharp and scathing,” adding that “it avoids cheap shots.”