| November 29th, 2005 02:23 PM |
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| monkey_man |
Take That, Borat: Kazakhstan Runs 4-Page Ad Section in 'N.Y. Times'
By E&P Staff
Published: November 28, 2005 12:05 PM ET
NEW YORK As if responding to the escalating battle with famed TV personality Borat Sagdiyev, a character on HBO's "Da Ali G Show," the Kazakhstan government today 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.
The feud has been simmering for the past year, after Borat and his frank depictions of life in his homeland (where, he claims, gypsies are still hunted for sport and women rank somewhere below farm animals in the pecking order) gained wide popularity in both the U.S. and the U.K. He also wrote the popular folk song, “Throw the Jew Down the Well.” A feature length film, “Borat: The Movie,” is currently in production.
Many, for some reason, suspect Borat is actually comic Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Ali G.
The latest round of charges began this month when Borat appeared on an MTV awards show in Europe accompanied by a drunken, one-eyed Kazakh pilot and mentioned the joys of shooting dogs. (He also suggested that Madonna was a transvestite.) He signed off with: "To the world, I love you, apart from Uzbekistan, a--holes."
A Kazakh foreign ministry official responded: "We view Mr. Cohen's behavior 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 behavior." He added: "We do not rule out [the possibility] Mr Baron-Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way.” A lawsuit was mentioned.
Borat fired back at his Web site, http://www.borat.kz/, with this statement:
"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."
In its New York Times ad today, Kazakhstan claims that it is a "model" for gender equality, at least in terms of women in "senior government positions."
Meanwhile, the daily newspaper, The Independent, in London has taken this all seriously enough to carry, earlier this month, a list of 50 things about Kazakhstan “you won't learn from Borat.” Among them: It is almost as big as western Europe, four times the size of Texas, and is "the ninth-largest country in the world.”
Also: "Despite Borat's suggestions that, in Kazakhstan, people hunt bears 'for fun,' hunting is no longer a popular pastime."
A British web site observed in a headline that his homeland "Kannotstand" Borat.
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| November 29th, 2005 02:31 PM |
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| the good |
This man is a genius. Is this the first time in history that a nation has felt the need to publically respond to a comedian? Boy did they take the bait. |
| November 29th, 2005 02:40 PM |
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| monkey_man |
Andy Kaufman is slapping his forehead in his grave saying "why didn't I think of that?!?!" Kazakhstan has a full set of tackle firmly in it's mouth! |
| November 29th, 2005 05:37 PM |
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| sammy davis jr. |
I'll bet they eat cats there. |
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