'I had no idea': Former WAPT anchor on interview with comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Borat'

On this date, July 13, 19 years ago, Borat, the fictional television journalist from Kazakhstan portrayed by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, traveled to America — but more specifically he visited the capital city of Jackson.

On July 13, 2005, Borat infiltrated the studio of Jackson television station WAPT, being interviewed during a live segment by former broadcaster Brad McMullan, according to a 2005 article from Variety with the headline "ABC affil gets punk'd."

Cohen is famous for portraying fictional characters in sometimes real, sometimes scripted events. Many times the people he interacts with have no idea Cohen is playing a character. His characters, including British rapper Ali G, Austrian fashion model Bruno and Borat, were first portrayed in his HBO show "Da Ali G Show." Famously, he pranked former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2020.

Part of the live WAPT interview was featured in Cohen's award winning 2006 film "Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," or just "Borat." Since then, the movie has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars around the world.

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Cohen, in the character of Borat, starts the interview with his famous introduction, "Hello, my name is Borat," then shakes McMullan's hand and kisses him on both cheeks.

Things quickly spiral out of control after that. Borat stands up mid-interview, screams into his microphone after thinking he doesn't have one on and invites McMullan to Kazakhstan. Later, he twice interrupts former WAPT meteorologist Ken Johnson's live weather report.

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McMullan said he remembers that day "very vividly." Before the show, the movie's filmmakers came to the studio offering $100 for anybody who would sign a release form that allowed them to use their image in the film they were making. McMullan denied the release form because he knew his contract with WAPT and their owner, Hearst Television, wouldn't allow it.

"The story they told to our producers, and other people I'm sure behind the scenes to get the interview booked, was that they were shooting a documentary on journalism across the country and that he was a journalist from Kazakhstan and he was wanting to see how journalist in the United States covered news stories," McMullan said in a telephone interview with the Clarion Ledger Friday. "That's how he got an interview on WAPT from what I know."

Cohen showed up to the studio in character as Borat, McMullan said. He had no idea who was actually behind the character.

"I had no idea," he said. "I did not watch 'Da Ali G Show' at the time. I was a guy with a young baby at home and was saving every penny I had and I didn't have HBO at that time."

When the cameras turned on and the interview started, though he knew something was off, McMullan said he was focused on being respectful to "Borat."

"Even though he was acting a certain way, I really tried to be nice to him because I didn't want it to look like the United States of America was filled with people that wouldn't be respectful to someone that may not get it," McMullan said.

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The movie only shows about 3 minutes of the actual live interview, but McMullan said there was another two minutes that "most of the world has never seen." When it was finished, he said the studio was flooded with calls from viewers who told them about Cohen's character.

"I remember going into the director suite with all the behind-the-scenes camera people right after that interview was done and people were like, 'Hey that was interesting. That was really strange,' and I said, 'Yeah if anyone was ever going to punk me, that's the way to do it," McMullan said. "And then moments later people are calling the television station and letting them know that's a character on HBO … and they just did a skit on television."

Now, remember, McMullan denied signing the filmmakers' release form to use his image before the interview, so they weren't going to be able to use the footage for the Borat movie. But a deal was worked out between the filmmakers and Hearst, he said, who, "Agreed to allow them to use the footage and in return we would be compensated."

"I still receive checks three or four times a year. It's a great blessing," McMullan said, though he wouldn't reveal for how much. "I'll just say that Borat has been very good to me financially."

On top of the checks, McMullan said he was invited to speak at events on how to conduct interviews.

"I had the opportunity to go speak all over the country on how to deal with a hostile interview and stay on point," he said. "It's been a great, great, great part of my life to be able to go tell everybody, 'Hey stay on focus, no matter what they do you control the interview, you control the questions.' You can't control their answers, you can't go control what they do, but you can control what you do."

"It turned out great for me I had countless people all over the country offer me broadcasting jobs," he said.

Not everyone was as positively affected from the Borat interview as McMullan was. Dharma Arthur, a former news producer at WAPT, told the Associated Press in 2006 that "she was duped into giving Cohen air time." She also said he was "causing harm and that is not funny."

McMullan backed up that not everyone at the studio found it funny.

"I know for other people they did not share the same sentiment or same experience," he said. "I looked at it as a life experience that no matter what you need to treat people the way you want to be treated and be respectful because you never know what's happening."

But McMullan said he thought "it turned out to be a great thing for channel 16" because viewership went up after the interview, he said.

"The next day a lot of people who probably didn't watch our show before, started watching our show and we became the No. 1 morning show in the metro and grew our program tremendously," McMullan said. "The ratings kept going up across the board … so that was an exciting part for us and then when Hurricane Katrina happened almost a month later, they trusted us through Hurricane Katrina, and I think what helped make channel 16 a strong news station was the introduction of Borat."

The WAPT interview wasn't the only stop Borat made in Mississippi. He helped campaign for politician James Broadwater, who was running for U.S. Congress at the time. He also participated in a wine tasting at the University Club in downtown Jackson, which is now The Capital Club.

Overall, McMullan said the Borat interview was "a blessing" for him. He left WAPT in 2010 and now is the owner of a technology company.

"I will say this, Borat is a movie that is definitely not for everyone," McMullan said. "But we hope that the part that we were in made somebody smile."

Calls and emails to WAPT for comment on this story were not returned by publishing time.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: 'I had no idea': Former WAPT anchor on interview with comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Borat'