Jeanise Jones, the woman hired as a babysitter in the new Borat film, was apparently not in the loop about her role in the movie. And now her pastor is trying to get her properly compensated.
Jones is one of the film’s high points: She’s hired to watch Borat’s daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova), whom she believes is 15 years old, and helps her break out of some of the sexist ideology instilled in her by Kazakhstan. She’s the film’s motherly figure, advising Tutar to think about her future and to not get plastic surgery.
But the 62-year-old told the New York Post that she was misled as to what the film was about, and thought she was participating in a documentary about a young girl being sold to an older man. She told the 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.”
Jones was apparently cast through her Oklahoma City church and paid $3,600 for her appearance, though she says producers never told her what kind of film she was actually appearing in, and she only learned when she saw the trailer. Derrick Scobey, Jones’ pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, has started a GoFundMe to help Jones out, and says she’s currently unemployed due to the pandemic.
“This was not scripted for Jeanise,” he wrote on the GoFundMe. “It all came from the heart. She is 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.”
Scobey cites Jones as being the “moral compass” of the film, a sentiment echoed on social media. The GoFundMe has currently raised more than $50,000 out of an $100,000 goal.
