The British comic Sacha Baron Cohen ends his new comedy, The Brothers Grimsby, with a scene in which Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, contracts HIV in a mishap.
The sequence occurs during the film’s end credits and has received a raucous response from European audiences. The Brothers Grimsby opens domestically on March 11.
The Huffington Post reports that Sony has pressured Baron Cohen to remove the scene over fears that the litigious Trump will sue the company. The studio did include a disclaimer that explicitly states Trump wasn’t involved in the movie.
But Jean Guerin, a spokeswoman for Sony, denied that pressure was being placed on Baron Cohen to make cuts. “The report of a dispute with the filmmaker is absolutely ridiculous,” said Guerin. “We are 100 percent supportive of the filmmaker and the film.”
Sony was particularly gun shy about the politically charged humor after its experience with “The Interview,” a comedy about the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim John Un that resulted in a corporate hack.
A source tells Variety that Baron Cohen has final cut on “The Brother Grimsby,” limiting Sony’s ability to influence the comedy’s content. The film centers on an MI6 assassin and his dim-witted brother, who get embroiled in a global conspiracy.
