Posted on 09/29/2006 7:39:59 AM PDT by DCBryan1
White House gates shut to 'Kazakh reporter' comic
Fri Sep 29, 2006 8:46am ET
Borat goes to Washington:
PLAY VIDEO
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Borat, the fictional TV reporter from Kazakhstan, may have gotten under the skin of Kazakh officials but on Thursday he couldn't get past the gates of the White House.
Secret Service agents turned away British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, in character as the boorish, anti-Semitic journalist, when he tried to invite "Premier George Walter Bush" to a screening of his upcoming movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."
Also invited to the screening: O.J. Simpson, "Mel Gibsons" and other "American dignitaries."
Cohen's stunt was timed to coincide with an official visit by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is scheduled to meet with Bush on Friday.
Nazarbayev and other Kazakh officials have sought to raise the profile of the oil-rich former Soviet republic and assure the West that, contrary to Borat's claims, theirs is not a nation of drunken anti-Semites who treat their women worse than their donkeys.
Kazakhstan is expected to become one of the top 10 oil producers within a decade. A U.S. ally with troops in Iraq, the country has drawn criticism for its deteriorating civil liberties and flawed elections.
Shortly after Nazarbayev dedicated a statue in front of the Kazakh embassy, Borat denounced an official Kazakh publicity campaign running in U.S. magazines as "disgusting fabrications" orchestrated by neighboring Uzbekistan.
"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," Borat said.
Cohen, 35, who is Jewish, recently co-starred in the recent U.S. box office hit "Talladega Nights" and has appeared in TV comedy series "Da Ali G Show" on U.S. cable channel HBO and Britain's Channel 4. Cohen, 35, who is Jewish, recently co-starred in the recent U.S. box office hit "Talladega Nights" and has appeared in TV comedy series "Da Ali G Show" on U.S. cable channel HBO and Britain's Channel 4.
Cohen's "Borat" comedy routine has drawn legal threats from the Kazakh government, which keeps a tight lid on criticism in its news media.
Kazakh press secretary Roman Vasilenko said he was worried that some may take the Borat routine seriously.
"He is not a Kazakh. What he represents is a country of Boratastan, a country of one," Vasilenko told Reuters.
Cohen's "Borat" comedy routine has drawn legal threats from the Kazakh government, which keeps a tight lid on criticism in its news media.
Kazakh press secretary Roman Vasilenko said he was worried that some may take the Borat routine seriously.
"He is not a Kazakh. What he represents is a country of Boratastan, a country of one," Vasilenko told Reuters.
i have dual masters degrees... and i laughed!
LOL...working on dual masters and JD also...OKIE made me laugh...he is about as irrelevant as Borat.
I have to agree. I can't wait to see it!
So I'm a cultural shut-in...is this the guy that got Pat Buchanan to agree that Sadaam was in possession of BLTs?
"If the world does end, Oklahoma will remain virtually unchanged."
Take a break now and go brush your tooth.
I want to go with Premier Bush and Borat to Hooters for the after movie cocktail party.
Yep, as Ali G. Type in Borat or Ali G under google videos and look for some of Ali G and Borat videos.
LOL...Go Pat!!
Lots of Code Pinkos and B!tch in the Ditch followers have dual Masters Degrees, so they say.
Liberals love to taunt and flaunt their superciliousness especially in the area of education.
Alas, I am just an inconsequential stick in the mud constituent of that great horde known as the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
Do not despair, but I am more of a Red Skelton kind of person.
If I want to laugh at a liberal, I will watch a Blabs Streisand concert.
Give that you're from Oklahoma, do they call you "Uncle Dad"?
Yep and sometimes Grand Pa, Cousin and Nephew.
I don't care what they call me as long as they call me supper.
Now there's a typo I'm not gonna touch ...
get yourself some coffee.
Me thinks OKIEDOC is out of lithium and thorazine.
"Sorry, his schtick is wearing thin. Actually, that happened a year or so ago."
You can tell that from the photo in #1?
LOL! There isn't enough cheesecake in photo #1 to make up for that image.
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