An upcoming Sony Pictures comedy featuring a scene in which Donald Trump contracts HIV has reportedly left audiences around the globe cheering.
However, studio executives are nervous about the Trump-related gag, and have worked hard to make sure moviegoers are as unfamiliar with the upcoming film as possible, according The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim.
“The studio is concerned about the reaction from the real Donald Trump,” he reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.
“The Brothers Grimsby,” which is set to open on March 11, stars shock entertainer Sacha Baron Cohen.
Executives tried to have the HIV scene removed, but failed when producer-actor Cohen, who had final say over the finished product, overruled them.
Sony has chosen to downplay the movie’s release in the hope it staves off a public confrontation with Trump. Industry sources said the studio’s efforts to market the comedy have been halfhearted, and in some cases nonexistent, on purpose.
“Studio executives are nervous about angering the famously vengeful and litigious Trump, compounded by the possibility of getting on the wrong side of the possible next president,” the Post reported.
“Still traumatized by its run-in with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in 2014, Sony decided its best option was to limit the damage,” the report added. “The film now includes a disclaimer indicating that Trump did not, in fact, participate in making the movie.”
One person familiar with the film’s production told The Huffington Post, “If you were told that they’re shying away from the movie because of the political implications, I can tell you that’s 100 percent true.”
Another source said Sony executives are “subtly trying to make it disappear so Donald Trump doesn’t sue the studio, and also if Donald Trump wins, then they don’t have a major problem with the corporation where they’ve alienated the president.”
However, one industry insider said rumors that Sony is trying to suppress the film are just an effort to gin up excitement for the movie’s release. But this still doesn’t account for the fact that there has been no real effort by the movie studio to market the comedy.
Even if the film manages to fly under the radar in the United States, and Sony avoids a fight with Trump, media abroad has reported test audiences around the world reacted positively to the “brutal” scene wherein Trump accidentally contracts AIDs.
In London, there was “loud” and “massive” cheering, according the Daily Telegraph and The Metro newspaper.
“Elsewhere in Europe, there were standing ovations,” Grim reported.
“The Brothers Grimsby” is not the first time in the 2016 presidential election that a comedian has used Trump as a punch line in a particularly macabre line of joking.
In September 2015, Comedy Central aired a “South Park” episode that included a scene wherein a former schoolteacher rapes a Trump-inspired character to death.
