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Ben Stiller won't re-edit 'Zoolander' to remove Donald Trump despite pressure from fans

Donald and Melania Trump in Zoolander (Credit: Paramount)
Donald and Melania Trump in Zoolander (Credit: Paramount)

Ben Stiller has said that despite fans pressuring him to do so, he won't be re-editing Zoolander to remove a cameo from Donald Trump.

Trump appears in the movie during a red carpet scene, in which he and Melania Trump (then Melania Knauss) are being interviewed at the VH1 Fashion Awards.

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He says: “Without Derek Zoolander, male modelling wouldn't be what it is today.”

But speaking to The Daily Beast's The New Abnormal podcast, Stiller said he won't be re-cutting the movie to take Trump out.

“We were shooting at the now defunct VH1 Fashion Awards… and as people were coming up the red carpet, we pulled them aside and asked them to talk about Derek Zoolander, and so Trump and Melania did that,” said Stiller.

Ben Stiller attends "Escape at Dannemora" FYC event at NeueHouse Hollywood on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Ben Stiller (Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

“There were so many movies that had a silly cameo from Donald Trump, he represented a certain thing.

“I've had people reach out to me and say, 'You should edit Donald Trump out of Zoolander'. But at the end of the day, that was a time when that exists, and that happened.”

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Trump has appeared in a number of movies, in cameo roles, back when he was better known for his real-estate business.

He's had walk-on roles in films like Home Alone II, Ghosts Can't Do It and Woody Allen's Celebrity and TV shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sex And The City, The Job, The Little Rascals and Spin City.