‘Borat’ Sequel Opens with Blackface Content Warning from Amazon
“Borat” sequel opens with a blackface content warning from its distributor, Amazon Studios. The mockumentary’s content warning points out the film’s depictions of “sexuality, drug use, foul language, nudity, blackface” — basically about what you’d expect from a “Borat” film.
Early on, Borat (Baron Cohen) makes a joke about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s blackface. In the film that picks up 14 years after the original, Borat is plucked from the Gulag labor camp and brought to Kazakhstan’s president, who tells Borat that America has been “ruined by an evil man who stood against all American valued, His name? Barack Obama.”
(Justin Trudeau’s 2001 Aladdin party photo makes an appearance in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”)
Prior to its premiere, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” sparked controversy for a scene capturing President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani’s questionable behavior. Tricked by Maria Bakalova, portraying Borat’s daughter and a journalist, Giuliani agrees to an interview for a nonexistent news program and even relocates to a hotel suite with the actor. In footage captured by hidden cameras in the bedroom, the former New York City mayor is seen lying back on the bed, fiddling with his shirt before reaching into his trousers.
Giuliani tweeted Wednesday that he was tucking in his shirt and that the video is “a complete fabrication.” Baron Cohen responded to Giuliani’s comment on “Good Morning America” on Friday that “It is what it is; he did what he did.”
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” now available on Amazon Prime Video, concludes with an encouragement for audiences to vote in the upcoming presidential election.