Rudy Giuliani says he almost became the latest victim of a Sacha Baron Cohen prank.
Giuliani, the personal attorney to President Donald Trump, told Page Six in an article published Wednesday that he had agreed to do an interview at the Mark Hotel about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, but did not state who he believed would be conducting the interview.
According to Giuliani, the sitdown began with a female interviewer who asked a few questions before, a “guy comes running in, wearing a crazy, what I would say was a pink transgender outfit.”
“It was a pink bikini, with lace, underneath a translucent mesh top, it looked absurd,” the former New York City mayor added. “He had the beard, bare legs, and wasn’t what I would call distractingly attractive.”
According to Page Six, Giuliani says he didn’t identify the man as Baron Cohen at first, and because he came in “yelling and screaming” he thought 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, noting that he is a “fan” of some of Baron Cohen’s films, like “Borat.” “I thought about all the people he previously fooled and I felt good about myself because he didn’t get me.”
Representatives for Baron Cohen and The New York City Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TheWrap.
Giuliani’s claim that Baron Cohen tried to prank him with an interview comes almost two weeks after the British comedian infiltrated the rally of a far-right militia group called 3% of Washington in Olympia, Washington on June 27, and told a series of “racist and anti-Semitic” jokes while encouraging the crowd to participate, organizers of the event said.
The incident led many to believe Baron Cohen had pulled the stunt for a second season of his Showtime series, “Who Is America?” But a person familiar with the show’s production told TheWrap on June 29 there are still no plans for a Season 2 of the series, which aired in 2018.
Baron Cohen has previously said he was not going to do another season of the satirical series, though Showtime said it would more than a welcome one if he ever changed his mind.
Representatives for Showtime did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment Thursday on Giuliani’s claim about baron Cohen’s prank, or if it is for a second season of “Who Is America?”