CULTURE

Donald Trump Has Deep Thoughts About Male Models and Zoolander

Like America, Donald Trump used to think male modeling used to be better.

June 26, 2017

AFP/Getty Images

Occasionally one remembers some random factoid about our President Donald Trump‘s past that just leads to a feeling of, “Wow, what a world.” Which might be a nice way to put it. Amongst those many little bits of trivia bits is the fact that he’s quite certainly the only President to have a cameo in Ben Stiller’s 2001 fashion world satire Zoolander.

In Trump’s four-second appearance he plays himself, but functions as an apparent authority on the ways of the world of male modeling. “Look, without Derek Zoolander, male modeling wouldn’t be what it is today,” he tells former E! News personality Steve Kmetko. Melania Trump, then his girlfriend and a person with actual knowledge of the modeling world, looks on quietly from behind, seemingly somewhat bemused.

It should be of little surprise to anyone that Trump would offer himself up to pose as an authority figure on a subject which he may or may not know little about, but as it turns out Trump actually might have some valid observations about the world of male modeling. In fact, Trump seems to know why Zoolander 2 bombed at the box office, and his explanation wasn’t just because he wasn’t in it.

“Apparently Trump said it didn’t bomb because it wasn’t funny or anything, but because nobody cares about male models anymore in the zeitgeist,” Stiller said at the Nantucket Film Festival according to Page Six. “And all I’m thinking is … a) Trump’s right, maybe we should go a little easier on him on this whole Russia thing. And b) why are you doing this, Chris? Why are you dredging up my pain!?”

Stiller himself heard the tale of Trump’s take when MSNBC host Chris Matthews paid a visit to Stephen Colbert earlier this year on the day of the inauguration. Matthews was recounting a time Trump appeared on his show and was talking about nuclear war and women’s reproductive rights, and, then, during the commercial break, switched the subject to the topic of Zoolander 2.

“You know what we were talking about during the break?” said Matthews. “Zoolander.”

“He said, ‘Zoolander worked. Zoolander 2 did not work,’ and he explained it to me. It had to do with the timing. You understand? He’s a marketing guy. He said there was a certain moment when people thought that really good looking models were stupid and that would be funny. Then it stopped.”

“This is what he was thinking about when you were asking about a women’s right to choose?” interjected Colbert.

Mind you, it’s not that Trump predicted that Zoolander 2 wouldn’t work. The Hardball appearance in question occurred on March 30, 2016, a full month-and-a-half after the sequel premiered at a disappointing fourth place and had its lunch eaten at the box-office by Deadpool.

This, however, is not the first time Trump has had deep thoughts about the world of fashion. Of course, we all know how he feels about Nordstrom, but we can also not forget the time back in 2013 when he tweeted, “New York Fashion Week is really bad, and used to be so glamorous and exciting! No stars, no fun-just boring. They need serious help.”