Borat and the Wrath of the Kazakhs
It's Kazakh season here on PolicyBlender. Comedian Sasha Baron Cohen has enraged the Kazakhstan authorities with his character Borat Sagdiyev, the Kazakh reporter who presented the recent MTV Europe Music Awards accompanied by a by a drunken, one-eyed Kazakh pilot:
"We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way. We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind. We view Mr. Cohen's behaviour at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with ethics and civilized behaviour."
-Yerzhan Ashykbayev, Kazakh Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Borat (right)
At the MTV Awards Borat greeted the audience by saying: "Welcome to the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest!" And, referring to Madonna, he said: "It was very courageous of MTV to start the show with a genuine transvestite." He signed off with the message "To the world, I love you, apart from Uzbekistan, assholes."
Borat has recently upset the authorities in Kazakhstan with his claims that Gypsies and dogs are hunted for fun and his penning of the popular folk song, “Throw the Jew Down the Well.”.
Borat Sagdiyev: Kazakhstan's sixth most famous man
Borat has issued a response to the proposed legal action, welcoming the Kazak Governments attempts to sue Sasha Baron Cohen:
"I like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my government's decision to sue this Jew.
"Since the 2003 reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats and age of consent has been raised to 8 years old.
"Please, I invite you to come to Kazakhstan, where we have incredible natural resources, hard-working labor and some of the cleanest prostitutes in all of central Asia. Goodbye."
On Monday, the Kazakhstan government, who don't appear to be seeing the funny side, published a four-page advertising section in The New York Times. The section, titled, "Kazakhstan in the 21st Century," carried testimonials to its oil production, its democracy, education system, and purported "power and influence" of women.
A feature length film, “Borat: The Movie,” is currently in production.
"We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way. We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind. We view Mr. Cohen's behaviour at the MTV Europe Music Awards as utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with ethics and civilized behaviour."
-Yerzhan Ashykbayev, Kazakh Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Borat (right)
At the MTV Awards Borat greeted the audience by saying: "Welcome to the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest!" And, referring to Madonna, he said: "It was very courageous of MTV to start the show with a genuine transvestite." He signed off with the message "To the world, I love you, apart from Uzbekistan, assholes."
Borat has recently upset the authorities in Kazakhstan with his claims that Gypsies and dogs are hunted for fun and his penning of the popular folk song, “Throw the Jew Down the Well.”.
Borat Sagdiyev: Kazakhstan's sixth most famous man
Borat has issued a response to the proposed legal action, welcoming the Kazak Governments attempts to sue Sasha Baron Cohen:
"I like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my government's decision to sue this Jew.
"Since the 2003 reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any other country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus, homosexuals no longer have to wear blue hats and age of consent has been raised to 8 years old.
"Please, I invite you to come to Kazakhstan, where we have incredible natural resources, hard-working labor and some of the cleanest prostitutes in all of central Asia. Goodbye."
On Monday, the Kazakhstan government, who don't appear to be seeing the funny side, published a four-page advertising section in The New York Times. The section, titled, "Kazakhstan in the 21st Century," carried testimonials to its oil production, its democracy, education system, and purported "power and influence" of women.
A feature length film, “Borat: The Movie,” is currently in production.
I think he's doing a lot to raise the profile of Kazakhstan. I mean, Borat is probably the only reason I know how to spell Kazakhstan.
Posted by
Matt |
Thu Dec 01, 05:31:00 pm