Overview

Rudy Giuliani's 2020 'Borat 2' Interview refers to footage of former New York City Mayor and President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani's conduct during an interview for the 2020 comedy film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. In the film, hidden camera footage of Giuliani lying on a bed and putting his hands down his pants in a suggestive manner.

Background

On July 9th, 2020, Rudy Giuliani's communications director Christianné L Allen tweeted that Sasha Baron Cohen attempted to prank Giuliani. She wrote,^[1] "On Tuesday night, Mayor @RudyGiuliani foiled Sacha Cohen’s attempted scam-interview, ultimately ending in a stupefied Cohen. t the conclusion of an interview for a documentary on @realdonaldtrump’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cohen barged onto the set screaming hysterically while wearing a multi-colored bikini with a mesh sash. Un-fooled and placid, Mayor Giuliani notified security to call the police. It was then, upon hearing the word police, Cohen turned from a screaming banshee into a fleeing hyena. I hear he was last seen running down the street in his bathrobe. Better luck next time, Sacha!" The initial tweet received more than 6,400 likes and 1,800 retweets in less than one year (shown below).

On October 21st, 2020, the website Showbiz411^[2] published images from the scene ahead of the film's October 23rd release date. The scene shows Giuliani "attempting to seduce a beautiful young Russian reporter in a hotel bedroom." The reporter, unbeknownst to Giuliani, is Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, who is playing Borat's 15-year-old daughter (images below).

Developments

Online Reaction

Following the release of the report, the MeidasTouch Twitter^[7] account shared the article. The post received more than 2,700 likes and 1,100 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

That morning, Vanity Fair^[8] published a review of the film that described the incident:

Tutar sets up an interview with Rudy Giuliani. She meets the former mayor of New York and current adviser to the president in a hotel room, where he holds her hands, compliments her appearance, and follows her to the bedroom. She spends some time elaborately taking off their microphones; briefly, he lies down on the bed. His hand is in his pants. Watching it, your brain turns into an exclamation point. They are strategically interrupted before more transpires, but you cannot help wondering exactly what Giuliani may have done next. (Shortly after the event, which took place in July, Giuliani called the cops on Cohen.)

Following the release of the pictures and the spread of the descriptions, people began posting memes about the incident (examples below).

Some attempted to discredit the footage. In a tweet,^[9] conservative activist Jack Posobiec tweeted, "I didn't post the Hunter Biden revenge porn photos, because I know how the law works. Everyone posting the Rudy Giuliani Borat photo is in violation of revenge porn law. And @TwitterSupport is allowing unlawful dissemination" (shown below, left). However, some refuted Posobiec's claim. Twitter user @penultimo11 tweeted, "You're right. We should absolutely not post the video of Rudy touching himself in front of a 15-year-old" (shown below, right).

The news also inspired conversation on Reddit. That day, Redditor Infraam posted "Rudy Giuliani faces questions after compromising scene in new Borat film" on the /r/politics^[10] subreddit. The post received more than 43,000 points (92% upvoted) and 3,800 comments in less than 24 hours. Redditor RVA_GitR posted the Guardian article in the /r/news^[11] subreddit. The post received more than 3,700 points (95% upvoted) and 800 comments in less than 24 hours.

Giuliani's Response

On October 21st, 2020, Rudy Giuliani responded to the scene, calling it a "complete fabrication." He tweeted, "^[12] 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. 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. 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." The initial tweet received more than 3,000 likes and 1,400 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the story, including The Guardian,^[3] the Daily Beast,^[4] The Daily Mail,^[5] USA Today,^[6] Vanity Fair^[8] and more.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References