Amazon Pulls “Melania”
The only theater in the Portland suburb of Lake Oswego, population 39,599, lost its rights to screen “Melania” after their hatred of Trump supporters was displayed on their marquee. Overtaken by Trump Derangement Syndrome, the owner and manager of the Lake Theater & Cafe promoted the documentary “Melania” as: “To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania” and “Does Melania wear Prada? Find out on Friday!” Unfortunately, we don’t have a photo of THAT marquee.
PROPAGANDA OVER REVENUE
According to this independent cinema owner, Amazon, who owns the rights to “Melania” was upset because healthy ticket sales are not reflected by empty seats. Ha! A bizarre way to view this loss of revenue. Obviously, his TDS has reached a stage where he has lost interest in making money from this documentary. He is no longer a businessman. He has become a propagandist.
As reported by local newspaper the Lake Oswego Review, the general manager of the Lake Theater & Cafe has claimed Amazon cancelled future screenings of this authorized study of the first lady after being alerted to the promotional nonsense. Writing on the cinema’s Instagram, Jordan Perry attempted to joke that it wasn’t public complaints which caused Amazon to cancel the screenings at his theater:
“Got a call that the higher ups (i.e., at Amazon) were upset with how our marquee marketed their movie (i.e., Melania), that, per them, Sunday would be its last day here. Also got, before then, countless emails and voicemails and Google / Yelp reviews (Google / Yelp took them down) wondering why the hell we had Melania here, or disdaining our disparaging of her. Now that it’s prematurely over, the plug pulled on us not from public outcry (always listening, thank you) but by some corporate executive (fair enough, sorry AMZN, please don’t cancel my Prime), Jordan figured he’d …say something? Link in bio. TLDR: welp.”
In a post titled “Why I, Jordan, Got Melania Here,” Perry wrote that his overriding instinct was that the programming “would be funny.” There was also a financial imperative, he added: “The film marketplace this week and next were a desert … So, to fill a screen, why not get this inexplicable vanity piece from the current president’s wife? I mean, it just seems so weird that it even exists (who wants a movie about Melania lol?), and wouldn’t it then be exponentially weirder, to the point of being funny, to show it here, at your obviously anti-establishment, occasionally troublemaking, neighbourhood cinema?”
“And, again, something about this all I find funny. Do I find the upset emails from you funny? No, most leave me sad; sorry to have dismayed, confused, or misdirected you, sorry to have not replied,” Perry said, later adding: “I do not view our film programming as political. I try to choose films for the community that they want to see. Lake Oswego is diverse, whatever best serves you collectively best serves us (also need people to buy more than tickets, please arrive hungry / thirsty).”
NOTE: I am not sure what he means by “diverse.” I am well acquainted with Lake Oswego. My husband grew up there and we lived in the adjacent burb, West Linn, for 32 years. It is 77% white and 9% Asian. Like most of the greater Portland Metro Area, conservative thought was pushed into the closet thirty years ago, and anyone voicing a non-Liberal idea faces consequences. Don’t believe me? Click here to read what two residents have to say.
Perry goes on to explain how showing Melania doesn’t financially benefit the president’s family as Amazon Studios is owned by Jeff Bezos. It is uncertain if the revocation of the rights to “Melania” will impact the theater’s ability to show future Amazon Studios films, such as “Project Hail Mary.”
BOX OFFICE HIT
The film opened at No. 3 in the US box office charts. Exit reports from the first weekend screenings in the US suggested that “older white women” were the demographic most responsible for propelling it to success. “Melania” is directed by Brett Ratner and follows the 20 days before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Amazon Studios purchased the rights to produce and distribute the film in 2025 for $40 million.
The entire Portland Metro Area is dying. Portland has lost 30,000 and Lake Oswego has lost 1,300 residents since 2020:
In August 2023 I wrote an article entitled “Portland: Death Of A City” which focused on the massive, and continuing crime wave which was created by, and cheered on by, the politicians which Portland’s…
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited. Follow me on X @DianeLGruber.
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