The Borat sequel film, which star Sacha Baron Cohen admitted was crafted to “deliver a message” on the “dangers of voting for Trump,” has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Taraji P. Henson unveiled the nominees across the over two dozen categories Wednesday morning. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm has been nominated for best comedy or musical movie alongside competing films Hamilton, Palm Springs, Music, and The Prom. Additionally, Cohen has been nominated for best actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy — for his role as Borat Sagdiyev. Similarly, co-star Maria Bakalova has been nominated for best actress in the same category for her role in the movie’s sequel.
The British comedian spoke about reprising his satirical role as a journalist from Kazakhstan for the film, which was released shortly before Election Day. President Trump and his supporters take center stage in the film, and Cohen admitted that the movie and its timing were designed to send a message to voters ahead of the presidential election.
“The aim of the movie is to deliver a message. That’s the reason why Borat came out when it did,” Baron Cohen said in a January interview with The Sun, explaining that he opted to use his “funniest” and “most popular” character to “show what I thought the dangers of voting for Trump were.”
“I felt democracy was at a very dangerous point,” Baron Cohen maintained, adding that “there’s nothing up next.”
“It’s been a busy year. Donald Trump is out and I want a break,” The Trial of the Chicago 7 actor said.
“I’m overwhelmed and humbled that the Hollywood Foreign Press has recognized both ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ and ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,’” Baron Cohen said in a statement about his nominations. “These nominations are a tribute to the talented creative teams that led and supported both films from inception to this moment.”
“I especially want to congratulate the visionary of ‘Chicago 7,’ Aaron Sorkin, and ‘Borat’s’ Tutar, the incredible Maria Bakalova. These two films are different, but they share a common theme—sometimes we have to protest injustice with our own farce,” Baron Cohen continued. “Thank you to the HFPA for this ridiculous amount of nominations. I’m so honored—and in the event that we don’t win, I promise to hire Rudy Giuliani to contest the results.”
He remained an outspoken critic of former President Trump throughout Trump’s term, declaring in 2019 that, under Trump’s leadership, democracy itself was “being disintegrated.”
The actor has also served as a champion for censorship of the former president, lambasting Twitter for Jack Dorsey for allowing Trump to have a voice on his platform and concluding that “Trump without Twitter probably would not have become president.”
On January 11, Baron Cohen celebrated the fact that “virtually every social media company” had removed Trump and called out Google-owned YouTube, specifically.
“Trump’s YouTube channel is STILL showing videos of his election lies to MILLIONS of people!” he exclaimed, urging leaders to “do the right thing.”
YouTube suspended Trump’s account on January 12 and extended the ban later that month. On January 25, five days into Joe Biden’s presidency. Cohen penned a mock PR statement for Google and YouTube on why the Big Tech companies would ban former president from their platform.
“We acknowledge that YouTube was complicit in the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” Cohen’s statement read in part. “For years, we permitted YouTube to serve as Trump TV — a propaganda arm for his hateful and incendiary rhetoric.”
“Our willful negligence helped radicalize extremists, including those who stormed the Capitol, murdered a police officer, and attempted to violently overturn a democratic election,” his mock letter continued, announcing that the tech giants would be “permanently removing” Trump from the platforms.
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