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Sacha Baron Cohen hits back at Rudy Giuliani over 'Borat' scene

"I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone, so I would just say, see it and make your own mind up," the "Borat" star told Stephen Colbert.
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Sacha Baron Cohen arrives at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 5.Christopher Polk / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani insists there was nothing "inappropriate" about his behavior in scenes featured in the new "Borat" movie. Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Borat, begs to differ.

In an appearance on Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show" on CBS on Monday, Baron Cohen was asked to respond to the former New York City mayor, who has said he was tucking in his shirt during a scene in which he appears to put his hand down his pants in the presence of an actress pretending to be a reporter.

“He has denied that he actually was doing anything untoward toward this 24-year-old woman playing your 15-year-old daughter,” Colbert said. “Do you have anything to say to Rudy Giuliani about going into a bedroom with supposedly a teenage girl to drink whiskey and zip your pants up and down?”

Baron Cohen pushed back on Giuliani's characterization of the scene.

“Well, he said that he did nothing inappropriate and, you know, my feeling is, if he sees that as appropriate, then heaven knows what he’s intended to do with other women in hotel rooms with a glass of whiskey in his hand,” Baron Cohen said.

“I mean, I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone, so I would just say, see it and make your own mind up," the comedian added.

In the film, Giuliani and 24-year-old Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, who portrays Borat's 15-year-old daughter, can be seen going into a hotel bedroom for drinks — at the woman's invitation — after completing what the ex-mayor believed to be a real interview about the pandemic.

When asked by NBC News to respond to Sacha Baron’s new comments, Giuliani replied via text: “Who cares.”

Baron Cohen went on to say that Giuliani "thought he was alone" with Bakalova. But as it turns out, Baron Cohen was hiding inside a wardrobe, waiting to jump out at the most comically optimal moment, the comedian told Colbert.

"Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" was released last week on Amazon Prime Video. The movie has attracted wide attention for the Giuliani scene, as well as other cringe-worthy pranks and stunts.

In a tweet last week, Giuliani said that the "Borat video is a complete fabrication."

"I was tucking in my shirt after taking off the recording equipment," Giuliani tweeted. "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."