
Jagshemash! Borat
Amidst Controversy
The international controversy of Borat Sagdiyev, the lovable Kazakhstani television host, continues as his film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, debuted in Toronto last week. According to reports Wednesday, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev has scheduled a meeting with George Bush to discuss the damage Borat has caused to America's view of Kazakhstan. Sasha Baron Cohen's character Borat is oblivious to any racial, gender or technological advances outside of Kazakhstan. He often speaks about his distrust for Jews, how his sister is the best prostitute in his village and how his younger brother was born with an excessive amount of body hair. In 2005, Borat hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards where he referred to Madonna as a transvestite and Shakira as a prostitute, the whole time in the Kazakhstani character. As a result, the following month, Kazakh authorities shut down Borat's website under the .kz domain name. As the Borat movie nears its Nov. 3 release date, President Nazarbayev fears that the film will worsen the already poor world view of his country. Wah Wah Wah. I think Borat is the best thing that ever happened to Kazakhstan. I have written the word Kazakhstan 5 times (now 6) throughout the course of this post, which is five more times than I've written it in my life. People in America who never knew what Kazakhstan was (7), now do, thanks to Borat. It's not like there were Americans lining up to travel to the beautiful country of Kazakhstan before Borat. So Kazakhstan (8), stop crying and get on board for the comedy of the year, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Dzienkuje!
•Time
Magazine Article on Festival
•Video:
Borat Speech in Response to Website Closing
![]()
China
Shanghai Daily
China Daily
People's Daily
South China Morning Post
News From China
Shanghai Expat
That's Shanghai
City Weekend
Danwei
Wanbro
U.S.
New York Times
New York Post
CNN
MSNBC
Michigan Daily
Sports
ESPN
CBS Sportsline
Major League Baseball
NYGMen
Deadspin
Bronx Banter
MGoBlue
Michigan Sports Center
Entertainment
Rolling Stone
Internet Movie Database
Spin
The Wowz
Pollstar
Maxim
TMZ
J-L Cauvin
![]()
News
BBC
News/U.K
NPR
News/U.S.
WCBS
News/New York
WINS
News/New York
WBBM
News/Chicago
WWJ
News/Detroit
KFWB
News/Los Angeles
KCBS
News/San Francisco
Air America
Talk/U.S.
Sports
WFAN
Sports/New York
WSCR
Sports/Chicago
WXYT
Sports/Detroit
WIP
Sports/Philadelphia