Over $50,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe for a babysitter who appeared in the new Borat movie who lost her job after appearing in the film.
Jeanise Jones appears in the movie in two scenes as a babysitter to Borat's daughter, Tutar. Jones said she was only paid $3,600 for her time and was duped into thinking she was appearing in a real documentary.
Borat asks Jones to look after his 15-year-old daughter and brings her into her home wearing a ball and chain. She also finds out Tutar (played by Maria Bakalova, who is 24 in real-life) is being groomed to marry an older man. Jones appears again later in the film as Borat returns to ask her to be his wife.
“I’m thinking she’s really from a third-world [country] and that’s how they treat women and young girls,” Jones said in an interview with Variety. “I [suggested they] take her to a school and let her observe girls in a classroom who can read and write just like boys. I was thinking it was real, so my thought was they were going to take her to see different things and make it so she could be able to stay in the United States. Evidently, that’s not what happened.”
Jones had recently lost her job at an Oklahoma City insurance company after being an employee for over 30 years due to pandemic-related downsizing.
Jones' pastor started the GoFundMe which, at the time of this writing, has raised over $62,000.
Derrick Scobey writes:
I am Jeanise Jones’s Pastor Derrick Scobey. Jeanise Jones is a Mother(3), Grandmother (6), faithful church member and just an overall great person who will help anyone. She recently emerged as the “STAR” in the new Borat movie. She was recruited from our church the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Oklahoma City after Producers spoke to me about needing a “Black Grandmother” for a small role in a “documentary.” Jeanise emerged as that person and she was completely unaware that this was a comedy, and all of this was made up. We have been praying for the young lady in the movie because we all genuinely thought she was in trouble. The joke is on us/Jeanise and that’s no problem. Many of you have reached from around the world to say thank you, so I thought it would be great to give people a vehicle to say thank you in a tangible way, She wasn’t paid much money at all for her role in this movie.
This was not scripted for Jeanise. 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.
Source: TheWrap.com