Borat, the fictional Kazakh news reporter, was denied entrance to the White House Thursday in an attempt to invite “Premier George Walter Bush” to the premiere of his new movie. Not coincidentally, Borat’s visit to the President’s house came a day before Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is scheduled to meet with Bush. According to Borat, joining Bush on the invite list were “O.J. Simpson, Mel Gibsons, and other U.S. dignitaries.” On Wednesday, the Kazakh government purchased a 4-page ad in the N.Y. Times and International Herald Tribune to combat the image of Kazakhstan that Borat has created in the U.S. While the ads did not mention Borat by name, they boast that “religious tolerance is a hallmark of the nation.” Borat called these ads Uzbek propaganda and threatened to use “catapults” on the Kazakh neighbor if the lies do not stop. If Kazakh officials truly want their country to be taken seriously, maybe they should stop taking the bait of a fictitious television character. The are playing right into Borat’s high-five-extended hand.
•MosNews: Secret Service Bars Borat