- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
I thought this was just hillarious.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060928/borat_white_house_060928/20060928?hub=TopStories
From CTV news
Re: Borat a growing PR headache for Kazakhstan
date: Thu. Sep. 28 2006 6:58 PM
I've watched all the Borat films on you tube and love them, I think Cohen is a genius and this film will make him rich.
can't wait to see it. ;D
edit: I make bad spell
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060928/borat_white_house_060928/20060928?hub=TopStories
From CTV news
Re: Borat a growing PR headache for Kazakhstan
date: Thu. Sep. 28 2006 6:58 PM
Borat a growing PR headache for Kazakhstan
Updated Thu. Sep. 28 2006 6:58 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
U.S. President George Bush is expected to meet the leader of Kazakhstan Friday to discuss a range of topics -- possibly including a public relations nightmare, caused by a fictional Kazakh reporter named Borat Sagdiyev.
British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen created Borat as a bumbling journalist. His sketches present Kazakhstan as sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and completely at odds with most Western values.
Last week, British papers reported Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev would discuss the film with Bush during their meeting, although Kazakhstan Embassy Press Secretary Roman Vassilenko later denied the claim.
He told ABC news that the meeting would instead focus on the U.S.'s growing political and economic ties with Kazakhstan. America has invested $15 billion US in the oil-rich nation.
But Borat appears to be a growing headache for Kazakhstan, and a major political issue. The popular character will soon appear in cinemas in the United States, when Cohen's film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan gets a wide release on Nov. 3.
The Kazakhstan government has already taken steps against any potential negative publicity from the film, which one official said will not be screened in the country.
Officials earlier shut down an official Borat website with the Kazakhstan designation ".kz," and on Wednesday, the government took out a four-page public relations advertisement in The New York Times.
The ad, which does not mention Borat, is titled "Kazakhstan in the 21st century: Looking outward." It features several articles on the country's growing economy, and one story features the headline: "Conclave calls for religious tolerance among all faiths throughout the world."
On the eve of Nazarbayev's meeting with Bush, Cohen tried to enter the White House in character as Borat, and said the ad was actually created by Uzbekistan to discredit Kazakhstan.
"If there is one more item of Uzbek propaganda claiming that we do not drink fermented horse urine, give death penalty for baking bagels, or export over 300 tonnes of human pubis per year, then we will be left with no alternative but to commence bombardment of their cities with our catapults," Reuters quoted Borat as saying.
Last year, the government threatened to take legal action against Cohen when he appeared as Borat during the MTV Europe Music Awards.
But its efforts have so far only added to Cohen's comedic ammunition. Speaking in character as Borat, he appeared in a video on his website, saying he had no connection with Baron Cohen and supported his country's decision to "sue the Jew."
He went on to "defend" Kazakhstan as a modern society, saying: "Since the 2003 Tuleyakiv 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 eight years old."
I've watched all the Borat films on you tube and love them, I think Cohen is a genius and this film will make him rich.
can't wait to see it. ;D
edit: I make bad spell