Borat 2’s ‘Wuhan Flu’ song shortlisted for Oscar nomination for Best Original Song

Musical number included lyrics calling for Barack Obama to be injected with Covid-19

The “Wuhan Flu” song from from last year's Borat sequel is on the shortlist to be nominated for Best Original Song at the next Academy Awards.

The satirical song, which makes repeated reference to the “Wuhan flu” (an offensive term for the Covid-19 virus), is performed by Sacha Baron Cohen's character during a scene filmed at a real-life Washington gun rally.

Borat (Baron Cohen) is seen getting up on stage dressed as a Country music singer and encouraging the crowd to sing along with the song's deliberately crass lyrics.

The song's lyrics include lines such as “corona[virus] is a liberal hoax” and "Obama, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu”.

Now, “Wuhan Flu” has officially made it onto the Academy's 15-song shortlist of original songs being considered for Oscar nomination.

Read more: Borat can’t pretend it’s satire while being racist and sexist, pure and simple

The track sits alongside songs from films including Minari, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Judas and the Black Messiah and Will Ferrell's musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

You can read the full shortlist of potential nominees here.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, a sequel to the hit 2006 comedy Borat, was released on Amazon Prime Video last year.

Baron Cohen has previously recalled the dramatic circumstances under which he filmed the movie's “Wuhan flu” scene, which resulted in the stage being stormed by an angry mob.