This isn’t the first time Rudy Giuliani has made an ass out of himself on the national stage… but it may be the first time he’s literally been caught with his pants down.
The former mayor of New York City may regret spending the last few years as Donald Trump’s loyal toady when Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat sequel hits screens this Friday. The actor has perfected the art of tricking right wing stooges into making fools of themselves, but this film finds Giuliani in a particularly, ahem, compromising position.
Related: Sacha Feared For His Life At Right-Wing Rally While Filming Borat 2
In the scene in question, Borat’s “teenage daughter” (played by Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova) poses as a conservative journalist interviewing the 76-year-old. Among other things, he flirtily agrees to “eat a bat” with her, asks for her phone number, and at one point seems to pat her butt.
Somehow, though, it gets even worse. After the interview, she invites him back to her hotel room for a drink. When the young woman removes his microphone, Giuliani reaches into his pants and appears to touch himself inappropriately.
Um… EW!!!
The attorney for the president of the United States of America. Whaddya think, @RudyGiuliani and @realDonaldTrump? @SachaBaronCohen for the Nobel Piece Prize? pic.twitter.com/KiaJFdkJMs
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) October 21, 2020
Before the wild scene can go any further, Borat rushes in (apparently wearing women’s underwear) to interrupt, yelling:
“She’s 15. She’s too old for you.”
(For what little it’s worth, there’s no reason to believe Giuliani thought Bakalova was underage; the actress is 24 in real life. Young enough to be his granddaughter so still disgusting and inappropriate, but not knowingly criminal.)
The lawyer actually reported the incident to police in July. At the time, he told the New York Post:
“This 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. He had the beard, bare legs, and wasn’t what I would call distractingly attractive. This person comes in yelling and screaming, and I thought this must be a scam or a shakedown, so I reported it to the police. He then ran away. I only later realized it must have been Sacha Baron Cohen. I thought about all the people he previously fooled and I felt good about myself because he didn’t get me.”
Um… didn’t he?
Now that audiences have seen the film, it would appear that Baron Cohen did, in fact, “get him.” Of course, Giuliani denies any misconduct. In an interview with WABC radio, he claimed:
“I had to take off the electronic equipment. And when the electronic equipment came off, some of it was in the back and my shirt came a little out, although my clothes were entirely on. I leaned back, and I tucked my shirt in, and at that point, at that point, they have this picture they take which looks doctored, but in any event, I’m tucking my shirt in. I assure you that’s all I was doing.”
And yet… some of those who have already seen the film would say otherwise. Josh Gad tweeted:
“Well, looks like the cat’s out of the pants. Having seen #Borat2 I can now safely tell you #RudyGiuliani is over in a very big way. It’s worse than you think and more uncomfortable than anything I’ve seen in a recent film, documentary or otherwise.”
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd confirmed:
“I’ve seen the Giuliani moment in Borat 2. It’s even wilder than it sounds. Beyond cringe.”
Giuliani tweeted his defense of the onscreen moment, writing:
“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.”
To which Demi Lovato hilariously replied:
“So you normally drink with reporters, follow them to the bedroom and then lie on the bed and let her take off your mic for you? I guess I’ve been doin my interviews all wrong…“
Related: Matthew McConaughey Was Blackmailed Into Losing His Virginity At 15?!
Unsurprisingly, the man formerly known as “America’s mayor” has attempted to deflect attention back to the highly suspicious hard drives he leaked to the Post which allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden. In his radio interview, he said:
“Now let me tell you why I know this is a hit job that happens because, it’s not an accident that it happens that I turn in all this evidence on their prince and darling Joe Biden who’s one of the biggest crook in the last thirty years, and since I have the courage to say that I’m the target.”
Right… you were filmed trying to hook up with this young woman playing a part, but we’re supposed to get up in arms about leaked text messages in which Joe Biden assures his son he still loves him despite his problems?
The integrity of the hard drives was already in question, with many suggesting he’d been played a sucker for by (or was complicit in) a Russian disinformation campaign. Based on the fact that he was so easily hoodwinked by Baron Cohen and a film crew, he’s certainly seeming like an even less reliable source than before.
One thing’s for certain — we’ll DEFINITELY be tuning in to see this cringiness for ourselves!
[Image via WENN/Instar & Amazon/YouTube]