That Time Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat 2 Trump Prank Was Almost Foiled By Security

Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat 2

Now that more people have been able to watch the Borat sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the conversation shifts over to “How the hell did Sacha Baron Cohen pull off some of these pranks?” The Rudy Giuliani scene has been scrutinized and analyzed, with both Cohen and Giuliani weighing in on whether the scene worked or didn’t. There also was a fair amount of goodwill generated for Jeanise Jones, the kind-hearted babysitter who claims she was duped by the production. Now she’s making money.

Today’s reveal, though, comes from the scene where Sacha Baron Cohen’s character, Borat, is infiltrating CPAC – or the Conservative Political Action Conference – so that he can deliver his “daughter” to Mike Pence. Appearing on the Ellen Degeneres Show, Cohen tells the story of going through security in a Donald Trump costume, elaborating on how a security guard with a metal detector almost shut him down:

The TSA were wanding me, and it went past my chest and it beeped. I was terrified, obviously. The moment they touch my body — it's a fat suit. So I wouldn't have been allowed in. He said, 'Well, what is that, sir? Why is it beeping?’ And I go, ‘Well, it’s a pacemaker.’ … Down by my belly, it beeped again, and he goes, ‘What is that?’ And I didn't know what to say. And he said, 'Well, hold on, it's the wire to the pacemaker, yeah?' And I go, 'Yeah, yeah, of course.' And so he let me in!

Sacha Baron Cohen was quick on his feet, and told the guard that the beeping that was going off was a pacemaker. As the guard continued to work his way over and around the fat suit, another beep triggered a warning, and the comedian got scared. But it was the guard who actually suggested that the second beep could be because of the wires associated with the pacemaker, and so they let Cohen in.

They gave Sacha Baron Cohen an excuse to get passed the metal detector. And they let the comedian, wearing a fat suit, enter CPAC. Say that out loud. How does anything like this actually happen?

Sacha Baron Cohen was not able to successfully hand his “daughter” (Maria Bakalova) over to Mike Pence. The movie, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, shows security escorting Cohen out of the convention center after his shouting disrupts Pence’s speech. But Cohen also talks about how he spent five hours in the men’s room stall waiting to pull off this prank. Worth it?

Listen to him tell the story on The Ellen Degeneres Show:

Sacha Baron Cohen can live off of telling stories about the production of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. It’s absurd, dangerous, but very, very funny. The movie is available for streaming on Amazon Prime as we speak.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.