Jones benefited this week from a GoFundMe campaign set up by the church’s pastor, Pastor Derrick Scobey, to compensate Jones, who plays a pivotal role in the film’s finale as the babysitter to Borat’s daughter Tutar (played by breakout actress Maria Bakalova). “I was blown away but not surprised because I was told about what type of heart this man has,” Scobey told People of Sacha Baron Cohen’s donation. “Maybe it’s a little risqué, some of the things in the movie, but he has a good heart.” Scobey said that the money won’t benefit the church directly, but will instead aid a community struggling with ice storms and power outages.
“While all these people around the world are loving how she’s the moral compass of the movie, she’s sitting here serving people in the dark and in the cold,” Scobey told People. “This is who we are. This is what we do for our community, and we love our community.” The outpouring of support for Jones arrives after she recently gave an interview to the New York Post where she said she feels “betrayed” by the “Borat 2” filmmaking team and that she was led to believe that she was participating in a real documentary about a teenage girl being groomed to marry a rich man. Jones said she had no idea the situation was manufactured for the “Borat 2” storyline, and added that she spent weeks worried about Tutar, who she assumed was an actual person being groomed. “I’m feeling [Tutar is] from the Third World and that kind of stuff does happen where they sell women,” Jones told The Post. “I’m thinking this is for real so I felt kind of betrayed by it…We were concerned. We were up there praying for her and asking God to help her and we were doing what we thought was the Christian thing to do.” Jones landed the part in “Borat 2” because of her ties to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, which the production used to cast the role. The GoFundMe campaign separate from Baron Cohen’s donation has now exceeded $128,000. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
