Despite what Rudy Giuliani has said in the past, early reviews of the “Borat” sequel say the former mayor of New York City actually did become the victim of a Sacha Baron Cohen prank — and was caught with his “hand down his pants.”
The president’s attorney said in his July explanation of the incident that he agreed to an interview about the Trump administration with a female journalist at the Mark Hotel in New York — but there’s a lot more to the story than he let on.
The fake interview was done by actress Maria Bakalova, who plays Borat’s daughter. In the movie, after their interview is over, she invites him up to her room for a drink. But, unbeknownst to Giuliani the hotel room is rigged with cameras.
The Guardian describes the scene like this: “After she removes his microphone, Giuliani, 76, can be seen lying back on the bed, fiddling with his untucked shirt and reaching into his trousers. They are then interrupted by Borat who runs in and says: “She’s 15. She’s too old for you.”
According to Mic.com‘s review of the film, “the pair flirt between sharp edits, [Giuliani] lies down on the bed, and runs his hand down his pants on camera.”
Cohen’s remark about Bakalova’s age appears to be only a joke — the actress is 24. It is unclear what Giuliani believed her age to be at the time, as no mention of her age was made in the film prior to Cohen’s “she’s too old for you” joke.
A rep for Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
According to Giuliani’s July account of the incident, the interview began with a female journalist who asked a few questions before, a “guy comes running in, wearing a crazy, what I would say was a pink transgender outfit.”
According to Page Six at the time, Giuliani said he didn’t identify the man as Baron Cohen at first. He thought because the guy came in “yelling and screaming” it “must be a scam or a shake-down.” Giuliani said he called the police and reported the man who “ran away.”
“I only later realized it must have been Sacha Baron Cohen,” Giuliani told Page Six. “I thought about all the people he previously fooled and I felt good about myself because he didn’t get me.”
We’ll have to see it to believe it.
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” premieres on Oct. 23 on Amazon Prime Video. Until then, read TheWrap’s film review here.