Actor Jeremy Strong compared former President Donald Trump to Stalin and Mao and went so far as to support CNN during a statement at the Cannes Film Festival after the global debut of The Apprentice on Monday.
His remark follows The Apprentice director Ali Abbasi’s accusation labeling Trump as a fascist after the screening.
Jeremy Strong, who plays Trump mentor Roy Cohn in the film, is currently starring in a Broadway production of Ibsen’s Enemy of the People, which prevented him from attending the premiere.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Abbasi read aloud a statement from the actor, who utilized the play’s title to launch an attack on Trump.
“‘Enemy of the people’ is a phrase that has been used by Stalin, Mao, by Goebbels, and most recently by Donald Trump who denounces the free press and calls CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, the New York Times, fake news media,” he said.
“We’re living in a world where truth is under assault,” he added, before blaming Roy Cohn for his “legacy of lies, of outright denialism, of manipulation, of flagrant disregard for truth.”
Strong failed to address the mainstream news media’s numerous instances of deception, such as the promotion of the Russia collusion hoax and its refusal to cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.
The Apprentice, lacking a U.S. distributor, is competing for the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Mainstream media outlets at the festival have lauded the film, particularly praising actor Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of a young Trump.
The film depicts Trump’s rise to power in the 1970s, detailing his close ties with Roy Cohn. It also explores Trump’s interactions with his father (portrayed by Martin Donovan) and his first wife, Ivana (played by Maria Bakalova from Borat 2).
One scene in the film shows Trump raping Ivana, an incident that Ivana Trump has denied ever occurring.
The Trump campaign said this week it plans to sue the filmmakers.
“We will be filing a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” the Trump campaign’s chief spokesperson Steven Cheung said.
“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked,” he added.
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