By Curt Schleier — On Tuesday night, March 8, a theater full of New Yorkers sang a rollicking rendition of “Throw the Jew Down the Well” led by Sacha Baron Cohen in a cowboy hat and Western shirt. Baron Cohen, who was at the Manhattan movie theater for a screening of his latest film, made the antisemitic song famous on “Da Ali G Show,” the satirical HBO series where he introduced now-iconic characters like Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiev and gay Austrian fashionista Bruno Gehard. On the show, Baron Cohen’s characters interviewed unsuspecting public figures, often asking ridiculous questions. At the screening, Baron Cohen had questions for the audience. “Are there any Jews here? Any non-Jews?” he asked.

Fans had come out to see a preview of “The Brothers Grimsby,” which opened last week. Baron Cohen showed up early to introduce an 8-minute tape of unused footage from his 2009 film, “Bruno,” including an attempted prank interview with F. Glenn Miller, a violent white supremacist who had just been released from prison. In the interview, Miller tells Bruno that “all the problems of white people pale in comparison to the problems of the Jewish menace.” The conversation at Miller’s home is interrupted when a staffer “accidentally” trips and spills a drink on Bruno’s expensive trousers, forcing him to strip down to his underwear. Later, Bruno’s “boyfriend” storms in and accuses them of fraternizing. Miller threatens to do bodily harm, and everyone runs. Afterward, in the safety of the car, Baron Cohen says he thought he saw Miller reaching for a gun.

The New York audience howled. Until, that is, on-screen text explained that the mark was the same F. Glenn Miller who was later sentenced to death for killing three people in a shooting at a Jewish center in Kansas City in 2014. After several quiet minutes, “The Brothers Grimsby” began.

Toward the end of the evening, an audience member asked if Baron Cohen had gotten any negative feedback from the Jewish community for his antics. Yes, Baron Cohen replied. “Throw the Jew Down the Well” elicited a letter from Abe Foxman, the former president of the ADL, who wrote that while he realized the song was satirical, he “thought it increases antisemitism.” “Now, when I check into a hotel, my code name is Abe Foxman,” Baron Cohen said.