“The Daily Show” accused Amazon of knowingly overpaying for its new Melania Trump documentary in an act of “pure bribery” on Thursday night.
“Now, when you first heard that there was going to be a documentary about Melania, you probably thought, ‘Oh.’ Or, ‘Huh.’ Or, ‘Why?’ Or, ‘Can I undo my Lasik?’” host Desi Lydic said of “Melania,” which hit theaters in the U.S. on Friday. The “Daily Show” comedian then noted, “But Amazon believed in this movie a lot. Like, suspiciously a lot.”
To prove her point, Lydic relayed reports stating that Amazon paid a $40 million licensing fee for the documentary and that the First Lady herself is said to have been paid at least $28 million for the project. “Huh,” Lydic said in response. “Why would Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who has tons of business with a government run by a famously corrupt president known for loving bribes, overpay for a Melania documentary? Hmm. Let me think…”
“Whether this movie was a legitimate piece of art or a cash grab — it was a cash grab,” the Comedy Central host then bluntly stated. “But whatever else this is, they made a real movie. They even got director Brett Ratner, who you might know from ‘Rush Hour’ or the #MeToo movement.”
Like Jimmy Kimmel before her, Lydic noted that two-thirds of the “Melania” documentary’s New York-based crew members are said to have requested that their names not be included in the film’s credits. “But how will they know who to give the trophy to at the FIFA Academy Awards?” she jokingly asked.
“You know that this is bad because people in Hollywood love taking credit. It is their favorite thing to do,” the “Daily Show” host added. “By the way, I was the first person to make that point.” Finally, as the segment neared its end, Lydic turned to fellow correspondents and occasional hosts Michael Kosta and Ronny Chieng to hear their reviews for “Melania.”
“‘Melania’ was a terrible movie,” Kosta said. “It was nothing but pure bribery. I was disgusted by this naked attempt by Jeff Bezos to curry favor with the president.” Chieng, however, disagreed with his fellow “critic.”
“I don’t know what movie you were watching, Michael, because I personally found the bribery artful and cinematic,” Chieng countered. “I mean, that was a real tour de force of corruption.”
“I love the bribery in this. It wasn’t gratuitous. It was saying something relevant, alright? Every movie could use more bribery,” he concluded. “I’m looking at you, ‘Hamnet.’ ‘Wah, I’m Shakespeare. My baby died.’ Okay? I’m sorry. How does that enrich the President of the United States in 2026?”
