Jeanise Jones was paid just $3,600 for her role in the new
Borat: Subsequent Movie Film—not a lot of cash when you consider the sizable cheques made out to professional actors who land minor roles in Hollywood movies. (Or if you consider how much money Jeff Bezos, whose company Amazon produced the film, has in his bank account). On top of the tiny payday, Jones wasn’t even aware that she was playing a pivotal part in Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy. She believed she was participating in a documentary about child marriage. But when fans of
Borat found out that Jones was both undercompensated and out of work thanks to the pandemic, they launched a fundraiser for the grandmother who is the heart and conscience of
Borat 2. So far, they’ve collected nearly $70K of the $100,000 fundraising goal at time of press.Jones, who enters the deranged and hilarious plot of the film around the midway point, acts as a babysitter for Maria Bakalova’s sheltered 15-year-old child bride character, Tutar. Believing that she is about to be handed over, underage, to a creepy American businessman “husband,” Jones steps in and tries to educate Tutar about everything from women’s rights (yes, they can drive cars) to self-pleasure (no, your vagina will not bite your hand off). During her time with Tutar, Jones is unfailingly sweet, coaching her through her (pretend) misconceptions about life while telling her how beautiful she is (without the $21,000 of plastic surgery Jones thought Tutar was about to be subjected to).[video_embed id='2063113']RELATED: What are your thoughts on the new ‘Borat’ movie? [/video_embed]Jones didn’t know the real purpose for her scenes until the first trailer for the
Borat sequel came out and she recognized Baron Cohen and Bakalova. Before that, she’d believed that the young woman was truly at risk of becoming a child bride.“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,” she told the
New York Post. “I’m feeling like she’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,” she added, saying that she often prayed for the young girl she believed was Tutar. “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 said.A pastor at the church that initially connected Jones with the producers of the “documentary film” (aka
Borat 2) launched the fundraiser to support her after Jones was let go from her job. While he says it's "no problem" the joke was on them, he believes she deserves more than simple monetary compensation—for example, a genuine apology from Baron Cohen and the
Borat team would be nice. “I would love to see him, if nothing else, on a Zoom call in a very lighthearted manner [say], ‘We’re sorry we pulled one over on you.’” Until then, fans can show Jones the money
here.[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: Puppy attempts to figure out water bowl and it's totally priceless [/video_embed]
