First there was his rehearsed-in-advanced crotch attack on Eminem at the MTV awards. Then Monday we found out the baby in Brüno’s hot-tub sex scene was added digitally. Today, in a probable first in major-studio promotional stuntery, Sacha Baron Cohen made an in-character appearance at the grand opening of a male brothel in Amersterdam — surrounded by fake male prostitutes.
“For too long, guys coming here from around the world have been forced to have sex with women,” he told the assembled crowd in front of the building. “It gives me great pleasure to declare Amsterdam’s pink light district officially open for business.” Then, doors opened and a team of purported gigolos came out to pose for pictures (see above). Later, though, Reuters notes, this happened:
“Cohen left in a black car while the men left their rooms, put on white robes and waved goodbye to crowds. The real prostitutes, who had hidden from the flashing cameras, reopened their curtains to wait for their next clients in their red-lit windows.”
We get that he’s a guy playing a character — but for a movie whose trailer promises “real people, real situations,” is one honest publicity stunt really too much to hope for?