President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made waves on social media this week when news broke that he'd fallen for a prank orchestrated by Sacha Baron Cohen for the latter's Borat sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
A scene from the film—which premiered on Amazon Prime on Friday—shows Giuliani giving an interview to Maria Bakalova, who plays Borat's daughter and poses as a young conservative journalist in her interactions with Giuliani.
The encounter ends with Bakalova taking Giuliani to a hotel room rigged with hidden cameras. They remove each other's microphones and Giuliani lies back on the bed before sticking his hand down his pants.
Giuliani took to Twitter to defend himself, claiming he was just tucking in his shirt.
(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
(2) In fact, the NY Post today reports "it looks to me like an exaggeration through editing."
As soon as I realized it was a set up I called the police, which has been noted in THR article on July 8th.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 21, 2020
(3) This is an effort to blunt my relentless exposure of the criminality and depravity ofJoe 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.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 21, 2020
(4) 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.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 21, 2020
Giuliani pivoted then to the supposed laptop of Democratic nominee Joe Biden's son, Hunter, which Giuliani says he got from a laptop repairperson months ago. Giuliani claims that the evidence on it proves that Hunter Biden used his father's office to improperly benefit his business, though the story comes with a host of credibility issues.
But it's not Giuliani's defense of Giuliani that is going viral—it's Borat's.
In character as the bumbling journalist from Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen posted a video "defending" Giuliani.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM BORAT SAGDIYEV pic.twitter.com/vM92Lam5vV
— Borat (@BoratSagdiyev) October 23, 2020
Cohen says in the video:
"I here to defend America's Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani. What was an innocent sexy-time encounter with a consenting man and my 15 year old daughter has been turned into something disgusting by fake news media. I warn you, anyone else try this and Rudolph will not hesitate to reach into his legal briefs and whip out his subpoenas."
Judging by Twitter's reaction, it served as excellent marketing for the film.
Thank you @SachaBaronCohen I need these laughs badly right now. You are the Peter Sellers of our generation. Bless you. https://t.co/g4qntXPOlx
— Edward Norton (@EdwardNorton) October 23, 2020
Brilliant https://t.co/3ZV1hUlph6
— Dana Goldberg (@DGComedy) October 23, 2020
This is perfect. https://t.co/FNtUXZasfl
— Jason Baum (@jasonbaum) October 23, 2020
The Rudy Giuliani moments of the Trump presidency have been far and away the most hilarious moments. No question. https://t.co/JWlwwXHCOn
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) October 23, 2020
This is genius marketing. pic.twitter.com/0B9G2M5Ne8
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) October 23, 2020
Giuliani's defense, however, didn't go over as well.
.@RudyGiuliani “Everything Trump touches dies." @TheRickWilson. You have disgraced yourself utterly and completely. You have betrayed every American who once admired you. You are a fraud and a deviant of the first order. There is no redemption for you. Respectability is gone https://t.co/agsyheu3uM
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) October 21, 2020
Who *doesn't* lie on their back and stick their hand down their pants in a hotel room after drinking and flirting with a journalist from a former Soviet republic trying to bribe you for intel about the POTUS?
As far as I know there's literally no other way to tuck in one's shirt https://t.co/MpykBehCbA
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 22, 2020
Do you always tuck your shirt in lying down on a bed?? https://t.co/XGEEUUKvTN
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) October 21, 2020
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