Ali Abbasi, the director of the controversial Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, has spoken out about recent accusations that he groped an A-list celebrity following the 2025 Golden Globes.
On Friday, reports broke that the 44-year-old Iranian-Danish filmmaker had been dropped by his American representatives in the aftermath of allegations that he had “aggressively groped an A-list, CAA-repped actor” at an afterparty for the January award ceremony.
Abbasi has since released a statement on X/Twitter, apologizing for his “mistake.”
“I fully understand that my action made someone uncomfortable, regardless of my intent, and for that I am truly sorry,” he wrote.
He went on to provide more context on the situation, explaining: “I had spent time with the person concerned on multiple occasions and had reason to think we had a friendly relationship. When I saw him at the Golden Globes party, I was excited to reconnect.
“I made an over-familiar gesture—a slap on the rear-which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever. I quickly realized I had misjudged the situation. I apologized to him on the spot, and the following day I made sure my apology was reiterated through my representatives.”
Continuing, Abbasi denied rumors that he had been dropped by his representation “due to this interaction.”
“The suggestion that I was dropped by my representation due to this interaction is false. My decision to part ways was a long term career decision that was not shaped by short term motivations,” he said. “I believe in taking accountability for my actions; I made a mistake, I apologized and have learned a valuable life lesson.”
He concluded: “I remain grateful for the incredible work of our cast, crew and supporters on The Apprentice, and I hope the focus stays on their achievements.”
Abbasi’s The Apprentice, which had been nominated for two awards at the 2025 Golden Globes, will again compete at the 2025 Oscars in the acting categories.
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Sebastian Stan — who leads the film as a young Donald Trump — is in contention for Best Actor, while Jeremy Strong — who stars as political fixer and Trump’s former mentor Roy Cohn — is among the Best Supporting Actor nominees.
The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May, was later hit with a cease and desist letter from Trump’s attorneys, who sought to prevent its release.
“We filed a lawsuit to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign chief spokesperson, said in a statement shared with The Independent at the time.
“This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked. As with the illegal Biden trials, this is election interference by Hollywood elites, who know that President Trump will retake the White House and beat their candidate of choice because nothing they have done has worked. This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day.”
While it initially faced difficulty securing a destributor, the movie was eventually picked up by Briarcliff Entertainment and released in theaters ahead of the 2024 election.
