One of the few “victims” in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm who doesn’t come across as a gun nut, or airhead, or creep is Jeanise Jones. The 62-year-old is hired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat to babysit his daughter Tutar, played by breakout star Maria Bakalova; by the end of their time together, she’s convinced Tutar that women can drive cars; men, including her father, can be “liars”; and that she doesn’t need to have breast enhancement surgery (with or without “potatoes”) unless she wants to. Jones is an all-around decent person, and she feels “betrayed” by Borat and Tutar not being real.
“I’m feeling like [Tutar’s] from the Third World and that kind of stuff does happen where they sell women. I’m thinking this is for real so I felt kind of betrayed by it,” Jones told the New York Post. “They told me it was a documentary for this young lady to understand she has rights and she can do whatever a man can do… I felt pain for her and tried [to see] if there’s any way we can get through to her that she doesn’t need to do all that.” She was selected by her pastor, who thought the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm crew was making a documentary, at an Oklahoma City church to appear in the popular comedy:
Jones said the filmmakers never came clean to her about the true premise after she was recruited through a church in Oklahoma City… Jones’ pastor, Derrick Scobey, said the production approached Ebenezer Baptist Church about needing a “sassy” black grandmother in her 70s to participate in a documentary and landed on Jones after speaking to a few other congregants.
Jones was paid $3,600 for her participation in the movie, but pastor Scobey has also set up a GoFundMe to compensate “one of the most authentic people I’ve ever met. One good thing that has come from this is that Jeanise doesn’t have to worry about ‘Tutar’ anymore. She has WORRIED about this young lady for a year… Please consider saying thank you to Jeanise with a tangible gift. She’s unemployed right now due to Covid. Previously, she worked on a job for 32 years! She’s faithful! Please consider giving a contribution to simply to say thank you to Jeanise for being “A moral compass and a light shining in darkness” in this movie.” Nearly $50,000 has already been raised.
You can buy a really fancy ball and chain for that kind of dough.
(Via the New York Post)
