WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
If you’ve already watched Borat Subsequent Moviefilm after its release on October 23, then it’s safe to say you were positively gobsmacked at what you were witnessing.
A follow up to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the film is a satirical jibe at Americans and American politics through the lens of renowned Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Baron Cohen).
Just like his first movie, there are various people who star in the film — who had no idea they were even making cameos. After all, Baron Cohen gets his kicks from pranking unsuspecting Americans and real-life public figures.
Of course, now that the film has been released, some of its “stars” have come out responding to their involvement in the movie.
Macy Chanel, Instagram Influencer
The key storyline in the second Borat instalment sees the foreign reporter transforming his daughter, Tutar — played by Maria Bakalova — into a gift for Vice President, Mike Pence (or as Borat calls him, “Mike Penas”).
In one scene, his daughter meets with a real-life Instagram influencer, Texan Macy Chanel who tries to teach Tutar how to become a “sugar baby”.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Chanel is in on the joke, however, according to an interview she did with IndieWire, she thought the scene was for a Netflix series.
“This has been a super difficult time,” she told the outlet. “I was misled into playing a role and being cast as someone that does not reflect who I am. I have enjoyed successful modelling and acting career where I can play any role given. In this case and probably many others, I did not read the ‘fine’ print. As well as lacking the resources to read every casting contract.”
For Chanel, she did, however, know that Tutar was not a real person.
“She was another actress and was super talented, yet disgusting at the end.” Ooft.
Judith Dim Evans, Holocaust Survivor
In perhaps the most offensive skit the film produces, Baron Cohen dresses in a horrible anti-Semitic outfit and goes to a synagogue in Marietta, Georgia to “wait for the next mass shooting.”
Here he meets Holocaust survivor Judith Dim Evans and her friend Doris.
Unfortunately, Evans died earlier this year after filming Borat in January, and after her death, her estate filed a lawsuit against Amazon and Oak Springs Productions saying that she was filmed “under false pretences with the intent of appropriating her likeness.”
“Upon learning after giving the interview that the movie was actually a comedy intended to mock the Holocaust and Jewish culture, Ms Evans was horrified and upset,” the lawsuit read. “Had Ms Evans been informed about the true nature of the film and purpose for the interview, she would not have agreed to participate in the interview.”
Will Davis, Monroe County Reporter
Dressed as Phillip Drummond III and Sandra Jessica Parker Drummond, Baron Cohen and Bakalova attended a debutante ball in Macon, Georgia.
Will Davis, a Monroe County Reporter, who attended the ball with his daughter, wrote in his newspaper, MyMCR, that he was under the pretence that the staged event was filmed for a fictional movie about Southern Belle’s making their debut.
“They began dancing side by side in synch when suddenly the “daughter” lifted her hoop skirt, gyrating and revealing no underwear,” he said.
“That’s when all of us who were sober marched to the checkout desk, demanded our phones back and hit the road. My precious daughter and I walked out into the cool Macon night with mouths agape wondering what had just happened.”
Davis later found out that it was for a Borat film and cotillion organisers felt “humiliated” by the events.
“Cohen’s modus operandi seems to be trying to embarrass and shock southern conservative audiences on film,” he wrote.
“Of course, our cotillion friends, having been hoo-dooed into hosting the charade, were humiliated and apologetic. I have no real problem with Borat getting a laugh at our expense. I find some of his stuff pretty funny. I will laugh a lot harder if we get the last laugh on Nov. 3.”
Rudy Giuliani, Former Mayor of NYC
Former Mayor of NYC and President Trump’s current attorney, Rudy Giuliani, appeared in the film after agreeing to an interview with Tutar in a hotel room.
At the end of the clip, we see Giuliani and Bakalova going into the bedroom, with Giuliani saying: “You can give me your phone number and your address.”
He is then shown lying on a bed, fiddling with his pants before Borat enters yelling: “She’s 15. She’s too old for you!”
Defending himself on October 22, Giuliani took to Twitter saying that the “Borat video was a complete fabrication”.
“I was tucking my shirt after taking off the recording equipment. At no time before, during, or after the interview was I ever inappropriate. If Sacha Baron Cohen implies otherwise he is a stone-cold liar.”
(1) The Borat video is a complete fabrication. I was tucking in my shirt after taking off the recording equipment.
At no time before, during, or after the interview was I ever inappropriate. If Sacha Baron Cohen implies otherwise he is a stone-cold liar.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 21, 2020
“As soon as I realized it was a set up I called the police, which has been noted in THR article on July 8th. This is an effort to blunt my relentless exposure of the criminality and depravity of Joe Biden and his entire family.
“Deadline Hollywood reports CAA had a distribution screening in September where there was no mention of the scene holding any importance.
“We are preparing much bigger dumps off of the hard drive from hell, of which Joe Biden will be unable to defend or hide from. I have the receipts.”
Jeanise Jones, Professional Babysitter
When Borat leaves Tutar with a professional babysitter to go make extra cash for his daughter’s breast augmentation, Jeanise Jones is hired to look after her.
The unsuspecting Nanny is horrified at how Tutar is treated, however, after being told she was being filmed for a documentary, remained patient.
“Thank you to all who have reached out to me from here in OKC to around the entire world! Yes it was me in the Borat movie. I was recruited to be in a “Documentary”. At ABSOLUTELY NO time did I know this was a satirical comedy movie and that I was being “setup” so to speak [sic],” she wrote in a post on Facebook.
Jones gave perhaps one of the more touching moments in the film when she tells Tutar that she wants her to be “happy”.
“Think about going to school. Use your brain, because your daddy is a liar.”
According to ShowBiz, Jones, 62, an unemployed grandmother, was paid just $3,600 to appear in the movie.
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