The actor is one of EW’s 2020 Entertainers of the Year.
Based solely on his two-film output, 2020 was a very productive year forSacha Baron Cohen.
“I’m a very reluctant actor, and I can be quite lazy.”
Nolwen Cifuentes for EW
He also felt it was time to stop hiding behind characters and make his true voice heard.
“Too much was on the line,” says the London-born writer-comedian of his social media protest/anti-hate campaign.
“We could see the end of democracy in America.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When did you decide to reprise your mockumentary role as Borat Sagdiyev?
Borat is effective because he is essentially 20 percent more extreme than Trump.
He’s 20 percent more misogynistic.
He’s 20 percent more supportive of white supremacists and 20 percent more enthusiastic about caging children.
Do you think the movie influenced the outcome of the presidential election?
Remember, the movie was released on Amazon prior to the final presidential debate.
And the image ofRudy Giuliani on the bedwith his hand down his trousers was circulating the day before that.
So did it slightly dampen the impact of his October surprise?
I would say comedy and satire humbled the powerful.
That’s what I tried to do inBorat.
I’ve got to be completely honest: I made the call originally in 2007 to Steven Spielberg.
I went through a long process with Steven before he gave me the part.
The final death knell was the writers' strike.
I stayed with the project for 13 years.
These were issues I cared about that I didn’t want to let go of.
When Aaron took the project, I pitched myself again.
Abbie had such terrific one-liners, especially during the courtroom scenes.
A lot of those lines were actually taken from the court transcript.
It was to convince America the war in Vietnam was completely immoral.
He knew that they were going to get attention every day.
Why did you launch your Stop Hate for Profit campaign?
The social media companies operated in a way that would ultimately lead to the destruction of democracy.
Democracy relies on shared truths or facts.
Autocracy relies on the population believing in shared lies.
So I thought it was time to forget about my career and just say what I thought.
My aim was to make people laugh, but also use comedy to expose hate and prejudice.
When a demagogue took power in the United States, that became my overriding mission.
