Nicki Minaj attends Melania Trump’s doc premiere while President’s children appear to skip: Live updates

In her speech at the Kennedy Center, Melania Trump began by thanking her husband, who she referred to as “America’s director, Donald Trump.”

She also claimed that her new film is not a documentary, but instead a “deliberate act of authorship.”

Variety reports that journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP, Vanity Fair and dozens of other outlets were allowed to ask questions outside but were not permitted access to the screening itself.

Per the publication, the only press invited in to see the film were Dan Ball and Peyton Drew of the far-right news channel One America News.

Nicki Minaj and Dr Phil were among the attendees at the Melania screening at the Kennedy Center.

Minaj said earlier this week: “I am probably the president’s number one fan, and that’s not going to change.”

Here’s The Independent’s Carsen Holaday on the controversies, feuds and fan backlash that reshaped the rapper’s career:

Among the notable absentees for tonight’s premiere event were all of President Trump’s children.

That includes Barron Trump, the son he shares with Melania. The 19-year-old rarely makes public appearances.

It had previously been reported that Eric and Ivanka Trump were unlikely to attend the event.

Donald Trump Jr. and his fiancée, Bettina Anderson, were on the original guest list but were nowhere to be seen at the event.

As if the release of the feature-length Melania documentary wasn’t enough, Prime video will also release several episodes of a docuseries later this year.

Speaking about the show at the premiere, Melania said: “We are still producing it, and that will be completely new footage.

“We have some scenes that are not in the movie. We will have in a few months a docuseries, so people will see much more documentary.”

Asked on the red carpet whether she can describe the film in three words, Melania responds:

“I think the people will judge it for themselves… It’s beautiful, it’s emotional, it’s fashionable, it’s cinematic, and I’m very proud of it.”

Asked on the red carpet what he would say to those who have been critical of the fact that Amazon paid $40 million to acquire the rights for this movie, President Trump replied:

“Well, I think they’d have to go and ask President Obama, who got paid a lot of money and hasn’t done anything.”

President Obama signed a production deal with Netflix in 2018 that has produced various film projects including American Factory, Leave the World Behind, and Crip Camp.