Sacha Baron Cohen talks about how he was kicked out of New York twice

Few can claim to have been kicked out of New York State twice, but Sasha Baron Cohen not most people. During a visit to “The Tonight Show” (in New York) to promote his Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer,” Cohen said Jimmy Fallon which is exactly what caused it to be downloaded both times.

“I thought it was a little over the top,” Cohen told Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Thursday night.

Not surprisingly, the evacuation happened during the filming of the films “Borat” and “Borat 2”. The first time Cohen was encouraged to leave the state, he was shooting a scene at the Wellington Hotel.

“Borat thought that when he bought a room for 200 bucks, he bought everything in the room. So I started taking out the bed and the furniture,” Cohen explained as Fallon and the studio audience laughed. “They called the police and they arrested the line producer and the first AD.”

But since Cohen and his crew shot most of their New York scenes around 5th Avenue, they all took place in the same precinct. After a while, the precinct chief found out who he was and wanted Cohen gone.

“He knew it was me. So I was encouraged to leave the state and I left the state,” Cohen said.

The second time, when the satirical star was kicked out, was worse. After Borat was filmed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that New York City, in particular, was on lockdown. The loudest part of the film includes an interview between Borat’s daughter Tutar Sagdieva (Maria Bakalova) and former mayor of New York and adviser to Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani.

In the film, an excited Tutar interviews Julian and appears to flirt with him, touching his knee and giggling at his jokes. In the center of the scene, she brings the former mayor to her hotel bedroom, presumably to fix his microphone. As Giuliani appears to be unzipping his pants, Cohen, as Borat, runs in wearing lingerie, saying that he disapproves of the union and that Giuliani can have sex with him.

Before the interview, which took place in a hotel “I will not name for legal reasons”, the cop had to sweep the room. Since the interview depended on Borat appearing in the middle of the interview, the team created a fake wardrobe that was large enough to conceal Cohen without being discovered by the police.

“It happens, Rudy gets scared, and suddenly a policeman walks into the room. And he says you stay right here,” Cohen told Fallon.

At that moment, Cohen realized that a car was waiting for him below as a way to escape. Thinking quickly, he remained in character as Borat and told the policeman, “No, you can’t. This is my property. That would be false imprisonment under your New York statute.” Somehow it worked, and Cohen was able to run out of the hotel room.

“I get a call from my lawyer — the same lawyer who told me to move out of state on Borat 1. Basically, Giuliani or someone called various police and law enforcement agencies. They started flying into the hotel,” Cohen said. “My lawyer said, ‘Get out of the state.’

The law enforcement officers tried to remove the footage, but were unsuccessful. Despite warnings from his lawyer, Cohen did not take the threat seriously until he called a New York detective he knew.

Cohen initially explained the situation to the detective without using Giuliani’s name, prompting his friend to say, “You don’t have to do anything.” But when Cohen told him it was Giuliani, his tune immediately changed.

“He says, ‘Get the hell out of the state,'” Cohen said. Watch the full interview above.