What is Digg?101 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+50Their reaction to the movie is reason enough to make fun of them, but really, why is Bush holding talks over a British comedian? Isn't that Tony Blair's job?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+41"that little thing called "freedom of speech" we have over here."
Sasha Cohen is not from "here". He's from the UK. It's amusing that these guys are going to complain to Bush, of all people. They must think that America controls all entertainment in the world, and that the American President has the final say on all movies that Hollywood (or Britain) makes.
Furthermore, it's hillarious that they attack him for anti-semitism when he himself is Jewish. - BullyJack, on 10/12/2007, -6/+37Borat is the funniest person in the world. I'm wondering if a movie will be good though.
I rented "Ali G In Da House", and it sucked. - ePlus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30US President George Bush is to host White House talks on British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
Cohen, 35, creator of Ali G, has infuriated the Kazakhstan government with his portrayal of Borat, a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter.
And now a movie of Borat's adventures in the US has caused a diplomatic incident.
The opening scene, which shows Borat lustily kissing his sister goodbye and setting off for America in a car pulled by a horse, had audiences in stitches when it was first shown last week.
But the film, which has just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, has prompted a swift reaction from the Kazakhstan government, which is launching a PR blitz in the States.
Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev is to fly to the US to meet President Bush in the coming weeks and on the agenda will be his country's image.
President Nazarbayev has confirmed his government will buy "educational" TV spots and print advertisements about the "real Kazakhstan" in a bid to save the country's reputation before the film is released in the US in November.
President Nazarbayev will visit the White House and the Bush family compound in Maine when he flies in for talks that will include the fictional character Borat.
But a spokesman for the Kazakhstan Embassy says it is unlikely that President Nazarbayev will find the film funny.
Roman Vassilenko said: "The Government has expressed its displeasure about Borat's representation of our country.
"Our opinion of the character has not changed.
"We understand that the film exposes the hypocrisy that exists both here in the USA and in the UK and understand that Mr Cohen has a right to freedom of speech.
"Nursultan Nazarbayev has taken Mr Bush up on an invitation to visit this country to help build our relationship with the USA.
"I cannot speak for the president himself, only for the government, but I certainly don't think President Nazarbayev and Mr Bush will share a joke about the film.
"The bottom line is we want people to know that he does not represent the true people of Kazakhstan."
The Kazakh government has previously threatened Baron-Cohen with legal action, for allowing Borat to, among other things, make fun of his homeland, demean women, slander gypsies and urge listeners to "Throw the Jew Down the Well."
Anti-Borat hard-liners have pulled the plug on borat.kz, Borat's Kazakhstan-based Website after his frequent displays of anti-Semitism and his portrayal of Kazakh culture.
Nurlan Isin, President of the Association of Kazakh IT Companies took the action after complaints.
He said: "We've done this so he can't badmouth Kazakhstan under the .kz domain name.
"He can go and do whatever he wants at other domains."
The row originally erupted in November 2005, following Borat's hosting of the MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry was furious over Cohen's bad taste representation of the nation.
'No such thing as bad publicity'
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news conference: "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 the ethics and civilized behaviour of Kazakhstan's people.
"We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind."
Baron Cohen responded to Ashykbayev in character by posting a video on the Official Borat website.
In the video, Borat said, "In response to Mr. Ashykbayev's comments, I'd like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my Government's decision to sue this Jew.
"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."
His blatant outpouring then prompted the Kazakh government to hire two public relations firms to counter the claims, and ran a four-page advertisement in The New York Times.
The ad carried testimonials about the nation's democracy, education system and the power and influence enjoyed by women. News of President Nazarbayev's upcoming visit has prompted experts to study the character's impact on US culture.
Sean R. Roberts, Central Asian Affairs Fellow at Georgetown University, has been studying the phenomenon.
He said: "I have found that more Americans are aware of Kazakhstan than four years ago when I last lived in the United States.
"The increased knowledge of Kazakhstan, however, is not due to the country's economic successes or its role as a U.S. ally in the war on terror.
"Instead, most Americans who have heard of Kazakhstan have heard of it through a satire of a Kazakh journalist named Borat.
"Borat certainly does not promote an image of Kazakhstan that is in sync with that which the government and its leader would like to promote abroad.
"As the old adage goes, however, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity.'
"If that is true, Borat is bringing much more publicity to Kazakhstan."
Cohen's representatives refused to allow him or his alter ego to respond to the controversy because it's not close enough to the film's release date. - bigtomrodney, on 10/12/2007, -4/+29"My wife...she is dead...."
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -3/+27Bush to Nazarbayev:
"Yakshemash, welcome to my country ... You like? - deim0s, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21My friend Reading Comprehension tells me that line was spoken by Cohen in character as Borat, not a representative of Kazakhstan.
- jkendel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22You both do know that Borat makes this ***** up right?
- celopes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19"Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev is to fly to the US to meet President Bush"
Fly? What is going to pull the car? Geese?
;-)
PS. People of Kazakhstan (BTW, you need more vowels), don't get so angry. Stereotypes and jokes based on those are common all over the world. I bet you guys talk about the dumb-cowboy-Bush-voters and how stupid they are for reelecting the same crook... We have to live that joke though... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+23Can someone copy/paste the contents of the article into the comments here, seeing as how I don't want my boss or co-workers to see that disgusting NSFW picture of Borat's ass cheeks on the side of the page?
- MatchStick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19Da Ali G movies sucked cuz they where scripted and done by actors. this Borat movie is a "documentary", that is the people in it (besides borat) have no idea of whats going to happen, like on Da Ali G Show.
- ricosalomar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21@orielbean
No, there's no way that AliG and Bruno are the same. Because Bruno is, like, gay. And AliG is, like, all badass and street, and all. So you're wrong, oooh, snaps. - imightbewrong, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19the Ali G movie is lame as hell, but the show is the just so funny
- Dinosaurus, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Oh come on! Ali G in da House was hilarious! Give it another chance.
- rcran, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14"Why you not keep her in her cage?"
- anagoge, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I think Kazakhstan peoples has no humour of sense yes?
- NanoStuff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Any movie that infuriates a government is worth watching twice.
- fredgsanford, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13There is a smell... it smell like a *****...
- honorablesauce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11oh.... and during the first attempt to show the film, the projector broke. Michael Moore tried to fix it.
Borat: "It's okay! Projectionist is my brother Bilo. He is a retard! No. It is okay to laugh... he has a funny retardation."
Borat: "I would like to thank the fat man for try to fix projector." - thewaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11you are a fat!!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Why not? Yellow is a striking color for him.
- goodshape, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11He's referring to "Ali G In Da House", which was out a few years ago.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284837/
Sacha Baron Cohen has been playing Ali G in the UK since around 1998 (starting with bit-parts on Channel 4's "11 O'Clock Show").
His trip to Northern Ireland is from around that time. *Very* funny stuff :)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VJMvMcEJdMc - LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -8/+18"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."
Wow...that argument will do wonders for their public image! - honorablesauce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10In response to some of the "Borat movie might be, or could be funny" topics.
The movie showed here in Toronto as part of the International Film Festival.
It is the most funny piece of film ever put together. I mean you will have to see it twice just to get what you missed the first time because you were laughing so hard. The guy beside my friend in the theater almost needed medical attention he laughed so long and so hard.
It is 90 minutes long and you are literally laughing for 70-80 minutes of it.
It is truly that funny. So funny even the critics liked it. One said it was the funniest film of the past 20 years. Another said... "if you are offended, don't leave. Wait 10 minutes and he will have offended everybody around you too." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12I wonder how many anti-semetic jokes will make it into the movie (the "throw the jew down the well" song in the redneck bar was classic) and what the reaction will be like.
P.S. The Ali G show is funny. I showed it to a friend who didn't get it at first, but after explaining that the guests thought Cohen was 100% serious during interviews he was cracking up as well. Definately pick up at least seasons 1 and 2 if you get a chance. - somnus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I won't digg you down, but the term used more often is "Not Safe For Work" or "NSFW". It's just more commonly seen.
- tpodr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Borat said, "In response to Mr. Ashykbayev's comments, I'd like to state I have no connection with Mr. Cohen and fully support my Government's decision to sue this Jew."
Also, from the article:
"Cohen's representatives refused to allow him or his alter ego to respond to the controversy because it's not close enough to the film's release date." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10"Well we don't do that over here."
"Then she escape." - PunkHop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8The Borat Movie *will* be funny - guaranteed. If you are at all a fan of the show, you'll love the movie.
Patton Oswalt, a very talented standup comedian and comedy writer, helped Sacha write a few of the scenes for the movie and got to see a full cut of it and said it was the most deep belly laughs he's ever felt at any movie ever.
I'll see you all at the theaters, my fellow diggers. - jukhau, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Bush is talking with british comedian when he is meeting Blair.
- mikesherov, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9"My country, it has problem. The problem, it is transport"
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"Sexy Time!"
- lsdeath, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8This movie looks funny as hell.
- rassoodock, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Wow, it looks like people are genuinely confused, I guess Kazakhstan better get busy with their media campaign
- ninti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"[...]prompted the Kazakh government[...]ran a four-page advertisement in The New York Times[...]about the nation's democracy[...]"
Well, that's just BS. According to Human Rights Watch, democracy in Khazakhstan is in really bad shape, corruption is rampant, there is no real freedom of the press, and speaking out against the goverment will get you put in jail or killed. Borat's version of the country is closer to reality than Kazakh's ads.
http://hrw.org/wr2k2/europe12.html - Eccohawk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7http://www.workfriendly.net/ - That should help with the nsfw issue on other sites in the future.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7:|
that's all I can say - michaeldillon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Holy crap is that picture funny.
- Mesach, on 10/12/2007, -7/+12@NanoStuff
NO they aren't they dont even look like each other, Borat has a mustach, and AliG is a Rapper! - VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Nice to see that Bush is spending his time sooo wisely.
- rcran, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"What does it have to do with the youth in asia?"
- tpodr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Conan, like to make sex crime? Hi-five!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFiSjiEb6Yg - bsolidgold, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Ali G cracks me up. That dude is insane!
- tegulizard13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"I cannot speak for the president himself, only for the government, but I certainly don't think President Nazarbayev and Mr Bush will share a joke about the film."
Well, Bush will probably try to share a joke about the film, but Nazarbayev probably wont take it too well. - ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8Yes, thank you, eplus, for letting us read the article without the NSFW image!
- thewaz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5stop... stop dude, between that and hearing taht patton worked on the movie, i think after i watch it i will have to kill myself because tehre is nothing else to live for.
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"for all you new comers to the web"
Don't know which BBS you just crawled out of, but its been NSFW for as long as I've been on teh internets (or at least for as long as people have been worried about their boss looking over their shoulder while surfing at work). - asdren, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Is this real? I believe this was just PR stunt for the movie.
- justatshirt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4i like!
- Trini2daBone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow wow wee waa!
http://www.webgeordie.co.uk/borat/sounds.htm -
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