They say reality is stranger than fiction but it seems anymore that the two cannot even be separated. Borat is back in the news, and as usual the real joke is on the Kazakhstani government
Bush to hold talks on Ali G creator after diplomatic row
US 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.
Perhaps the funniest is that Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t even American, he’s half British half Israeli. Why isn’t Kazakhstan complaining to Tony Blair? And if that wasn’t enough, it looks like Team America is coming true as well:
George Clooney Will Speak To UN Security Council Thursday About Darfur
It’s been said that Hollywood’s hottest marriage is the one between actors and Africa. That’ll be true Thursday when Oscar winner George Clooney is scheduled to address the United Nations Security Council on the crisis in Darfur. That’s right, not some small media conference, but the actual Security Council. Hosted by John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, the briefing is organized by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity (EWF), which recently established a Darfur Commission of Nobel Laureates. Clooney visited Darfuri refugees last April to use his celebrity clout to raise awareness of the plight of refugees in the war-torn region, considered the 3rd biggest humanitarian crisis in the history of the UN. According to the Oscar-winning actor, the US, the UN and the world’s policies on Sudan are failing. “If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will disappear then they will-all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will only have history left to judge us,” Clooney has said about the tragedy.
The only thing positive about this, despite giving undeserved credibility to a terrible actor is that it further exposes the ridiculousness of the U.N. forgetting the fact that I actually support intervention in Dar Fur.
“Generations from now people will look back on what we did and say ‘Nice Job, FAG.’”
What I find most disturbing about Darfur, besides the what is actually happening and the general lack of action from Western goernments, is that it requires celebrities to bring this to the average persons attention. If it weren’t for Clooney and others like him, I doubt the average American would have any clue where Darfur is, or what is going on there.
The lack of interest in world affairs in America is as always mind blowing to to me.
With the kind of bad acting Clooney’s capable of, I’m sure by making the Janjaweed watch Batman & Robin over and over again we can end the horrors of Darfur. We might have to open up a second front and make them watch “Intolerable Cruelty” as well.
Its well apparent FAG really does exist, if only there was a real “Team America”….
To give Clooney some credit, he could be sitting back on his hindquarters doing the standard Hollywood drugs and babes scene. Come on, the only thing he has to offer is celebrity, and I assume that he’s doing it for free. Yes, we’ll gain another insufferable Hollywood expert on international affairs, but aren’t a few lives in Darfur worth it? Right on ‘em, Mate, as me old Aussie mates would say.
Maybe he’s just trying to get into Angelina Jolie’s pants.
You do realize George Clooney was in Team America? He may suffer from some smug pollution, but he’s not a bad actor. And nobody should kill the guy for bringing up Darfur (he’s probably a better UN Representative then Handlebar Facist Bolton).
And don’t forget that the N. Korean star of Team America made the cover of The Atlantic this month!
So, I’m here in Almaty doing the third day of our blogging conference, and I was covering video on blogs. I noticed that Josh had posted the Borat trailer at Registan.net and so I showed it to my group. They thought Borat was pretty damned funny. And a Kazakh I talked to last night said that he thinks Borat is pretty funny. Surprising stuff.
Hey Nathan,
The Guardian did much the same thing three years ago, showing Borat to people in Almaty. My favorite quote:
I think her interpretation is proven by Borat’s successful sing-a-long of “Throw the Jew Down the Well” in Nashville. Real Americans end up more embarassed than fake Kazakhs.