Interview with LaToya axed

A Michael Jackson gag has been cut from Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Bruno film less than two weeks before its release.

Although Cohen is not usually afraid of causing offence, his interview with LaToya Jackson has hit the cutting-room floor.

The scene was dropped before the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Thursday night, just hours after the singer died, but now studio Universal have confirmed that the cut will be permanent.

In a statement, the company said: ‘Out of respect for the Jackson family, the filmmakers have decided to remove a small scene involving La Toya Jackson.’

The scene showed Cohen’s wildly gay Austrian fashion-worshipper interview LaToya in an apartment full of human ‘furniture’. As she sat on a crouching Mexican man, Bruno quizzed her about her brother, making jokes about his high voice, before stealing her mobile phone so he could copy Michael’s number.

The cut comes after Channel 4 suddenly pulled the plug on its new topical programme The TNT Show mid-broadcast on Thursday night, to avoid airing a joke about Jackson’s use of look-alikes. Viewers were shown a screen apologising for a technical malfunction.

Bruno is out on July 10.

Published: 28 Jun 2009