Sacha Baron Cohen has revealed that Joe Biden‘s team were “very happy” with the controversy surrounding the footage of Rudy Giuliani from Borat 2 in the run up to the presidential election.

He believes the bedroom scene from the movie which saw Donald Trump‘s personal lawyer allegedly caught in a compromising situation with his hand down his pants had an impact on the election.

“Suddenly he was having to try to explain that he wasn’t playing with himself. It was such a close election that everything in those final weeks was crucial,” Baron Cohen told The Guardian.

At the time Giuliani claimed that the clip of him, was “a complete fabrication”.

“I was tucking in my shirt after taking off the recording equipment,” he wrote. “At no time before, during, or after the interview was I ever inappropriate. If Sacha Baron Cohen implies otherwise he is a stone-cold liar.”

Giuliani appeared in the controversial scene with actress Maria Bakalova, who plays Baron Cohen’s daughter in the movie. Bakalova posed as a journalist interviewing Giuliani in a hotel before they moved into the bedroom and Baron Cohen eventually barged in on them.

Speaking about the scene last month, Baron Cohen said: “I never thought that he was actually going to go into the room with her.

“I mean, I was hoping for the movie they would. But also as a producer and a director, I have an actress there who I need to look after – and protect as well – because we’re putting her in a situation with a powerful man who may or may not have been in this situation beforehand.”

Bakalova added: “To be honest, my heart was definitely racing because it was an intense situation. The movie has been out for a few months, and everyone can see it and decide for themselves what to accept and believe.”

Baron Cohen also recently joked that he’ll hire Rudy Giuliani to contest the results of the Golden Globes awards if Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7 don’t win.