Apple CEO Tim Cook is being excoriated online for showing up at the White House Saturday night — hours after Border Patrol agents killed a Veterans Affair nurse in Minneapolis — to party with Donald and Melania Trump at an intimate, black-tie screening of Melania Trump’s controversial documentary.
Calls to boycott Apple products also began circulating online as Cook was revealed to be among a group of CEOs and other VIPS who celebrated the premiere of “Melania,” even while Trump administration officials were pushing their narrative Saturday that 37-year-old Alex Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” and a threat to agents, according to the Daily Beast and the New York Times.
Contrary to this narrative, video also emerged Saturday showing that Pretti was holding up a phone, not a gun, to record agents before he was repeatedly pepper-sprayed, knocked to the ground, had his legally carried handgun removed from his waistband and shot multiple times, according to a Times analysis.
Such violence and national upheaval didn’t stop Melania Trump or Brett Ratner, the director of her $40 million documentary, from sharing images of Cook and the other guests gathering in the East Room of the White House. The first lady called the screening of her movie “historic,” while critics see it as a sycophantic $40 million ode to her, funded by Amazon Studios in order to curry favor with the Trump administration. The film opens in theaters Friday and follows the first lady preparing to return to the White House after her husband won re-election, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The guests, who also included Barron Trump, Mike Tyson, self-help guru Tony Robbins, Erica Kirk, Queen Raina of Jordan, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan and Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy, were welcomed by a full military band playing “Melania’s Waltz,” composed specially for the film, according to Ratner and The Hollywood Reporter.
At one point, Cook, who reportedly is worth $2.5 billion, posed for a photo with Ratner, as the disgraced former powerhouse movie director shared on social media.
Ratner became a persona non grata in Hollywood after 2017 news reports revealed that was accused of sexually harassing and assaulting multiple women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge. But Ratner is making a comeback after being embraced by the Trumps. They reportedly allowed him to live for months at Mar-a-Lago during the shooting of “Melania,” according to The Hollywood Reporter and Puck.
While Apple Insider said that Cook’s attendance at the “Melania” screening — and schmoozing with someone like Ratner — may be “the cost of doing business during the Trump Administration,” the Apple CEO was “eviscerated” online for making this choice, the Daily Beast reported.
“If you’re a CEO willing to sit in the company of this regime, your ‘shareholder value’ excuse feels pretty blood-soaked tonight,” said an X post by Rick Wilson, the conservative political strategist and high-profile Trump critic.
“It’s revolting — especially Tim Cook,” one person responded to Wilson’s post. “I’m never buying another Apple product in my life – even though I have several (expletive) dozen!”
David Corn, the Mother Jones Washington bureau chief, wrote that Cook, Amazon’s Jassy and other billionaire CEOs are “accommodating an authoritarian who is presiding over a secret police force killing American citizens,” Apple Insider reported. “The blood of Renee Good and Alex Pretti is on the hands of those who enable Trump. Hope they like the movie.”
Another person on Threads, claiming to be a long-time Apple shareholder, said they understand that these are difficult times for CEOs, Apple Insider reported. But that person also said: “The moral position has become black and white. (Tim Cook) has shamed us all.”
Adam Cochran, a policy analyst and partner in a venture capital firm, penned a lengthy X post directed to Cook, asking, “How was that movie Tim? Was it worth the price of admission? The one you watched while Americans were shot. … While you stayed silent on Trump?”
Someone else said: “Nothing has worsened my opinion of Apple like Tim Cook’s behavior during the last 371 days. His cowardice and capitulation is disgusting, and he needs to be removed as CEO.”
The day after Pretti’s killing, Trump posted what the Daily Beast called an “incoherent” Truth Social rant about the upheaval in Minnesota, in which he blamed Democratic leaders for the violence while referring to Pretti not by name but as a “gunman,” despite videos showing he never brandished his weapon. The videos also showed that Pretti was killed after he tried to help a woman who was shoved to the ground by Border Patrol agents.
Last week, Cook went on X to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., praising “his commitment to justice, and his belief that every one of us has the power to make a difference.” But after Cook attended the “Melania” screening, education consultant Lucy Gray, who has more than 32,000 followers, wrote, “You dishonor Dr. King’s legacy every time you kiss Trump’s ass. For shame. You have no integrity.”
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