{"id":274431,"date":"2026-02-08T23:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/274431\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T23:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:25:07","slug":"rotten-tomatoes-says-no-bot-manipulation-with-melania-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/274431\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotten Tomatoes Says “No Bot Manipulation” With ‘Melania’ Score"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWith a stark disparity between Melania<\/a>\u2018s critic and audience scores, Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> is denying any bot interference.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite speculation of rigged box office number, the movie review hub recently declared that its \u201cPopcornmeter\u201d score for the documentary about first lady Melania Trump<\/a> is driven only by reviews from verified audience members who \u201chave bought a ticket to the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere has been NO bot manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary,\u201d a spokesperson for the site said in a statement shared with People<\/a>. \u201cReviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Melania falls -67% in its second weekend<\/a> at the box office for a 10-day total of $14.5M, against its $40M licensing and $35M marketing budget, not everyone is so convinced. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe \u2018verified\u2019 Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews for the Melania doc all come from new accounts that have never posted before.\u00a0 Who is paying for these bots?\u201d wrote one person on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The “verified” Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews for the Melania doc all come from new accounts that have never posted before. Who is paying for these bots? pic.twitter.com\/KCYVCVK7LE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Matt Shea (@Matt_A_Shea) January 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

So I went into Rotten Tomatoes to see the reviews of the Melania movie dreck. It seems that all of the Verified Reviews, which were all r star reviews were from people who:<\/p>\n

1) never had another single review in the account review history
2) all of these people bought their\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/8DlXYLb1O0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Zorpheous Schr\u00f6dinger\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 (@Zorpheous) January 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSo I went into Rotten Tomatoes to see the reviews of the Melania movie dreck.\u00a0 It seems that all of the Verified Reviews, which were all r star reviews were from people who: 1) never had another single review in the account review history 2) all of these people bought their tickets off of Fandango,\u201d someone else noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re calling Melania the most botted rotten tomatoes audience \u2018reviewed\u2019 movies of all time,\u201d another posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tNoting the film\u2019s then 5% \u201cTomatometer\u201d score earlier this week, Jimmy Kimmel previously said on his talk show<\/a>, \u201cThat is very low. To put that in perspective, that is 1% lower than Gigli. But that\u2019s just what the loser and hater critics had to say. The audience score for Melania is 99% positive, which is 1% higher than The Godfather.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd I\u2019m sure Donald J. Corleone had nothing to do with that at all,\u201d added Kimmel. \u201cWe need to get to the bottom of this! Send in Tulsi Gabbard and the FBI. Seize the ticket machines, the popcorn buckets, the box office receipts at every multiplex in America!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier in the monologue, he noted reports of bulk ticket purchases boosting numbers, distributing them for free with Republican activists and senior citizen homes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd if you don\u2019t believe this is the kind of thing they would do, you may be forgetting that back in 2019, the Republican National Committee bought $100,000 worth of Don Jr.\u2019s book to put in swag bags, to make it a New York Times bestseller,\u201d he recalled. \u201cDon Jr.\u2019s book debuted No. 1 on the New York Times\u2018 bestseller list, despite the fact that no one has ever read it. No one has ever even opened that book. It might be filled with blank pages, we will never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs of Sunday, Melania holds an 8% critic score and a 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n