Paula Abdul accidentally made a cameo as herself in Sacha Baron Cohen’s new comedy, “Bruno.” And in a new interview with SIRIUS XM’s “The Morning After With Angela Yee!,” the “American Idol” judge revealed she found out about her involvement in the film after it was filmed.
“A little over three weeks ago, my management sent over to me — ‘US Weekly and People magazine and USA Today want to know about how it felt being pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen, AKA Bruno?’ I went, ‘I’ve never worked with Sacha Baron Cohen,’… So, they responded ‘Paula’s never worked with Sacha Baron Cohen,’” Abdul told the morning show.
But after responding to the mags, Abdul realized she made a mistake.
“Later on that night, I woke up… in a pool of sweat at two o’clock in the morning, going ‘Ahhh!’” she recounted. “I ran to the Internet and I remembered, ‘Oh my god, a year ago, they got me.’ I had no idea it was Sacha Baron Cohen.”
In the comedian’s new movie, “Bruno,” Abdul was fooled into doing an interview with the fictional gay Austrian fashion journalist. And Abdul explained how she was coaxed over for the shoot.
“I was told I got the Austrian/German ‘Entertainer of the Year Award.’ I thought ‘Wow! That’s pretty fantastic,’” she explained.
Abdul said she went over to the furniture-less house where she was met by a “weird, tall, skinny, creepy looking dude” who was “dressed like Captain Nemo.”
While there, he asked her to put on a suit and run and jump on a Velcro wall, which she declined to do. She did, however, crouch on some human furniture.
“He goes, ‘Immigrants! Immigrants’ and … these two Mexican gardeners come into the house,” Abdul recounted. “He tells them to drop on all fours and for me to sit down on them. I said, ‘I’m not gonna do that!’ and he goes, ‘Just sit!’ I was literally holding my own weight.”
Abdul eventually stood up to Bruno and got herself out of there. And unlike some who have filed lawsuits against the British comedian, Abdul bares no ill will.
“I think it’s hysterical,” she said.