Sacha Baron Cohen apologizes to Kazakhstan for first time over Borat - The Independent
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Sacha Baron Cohen has apologized to “the people of Kazakhstan” for the first time over his portrayal of Borat.
Cohen, 55, starred as the vulgar, racist Kazakh television journalist Borat Sagdiyev in the 2006 mockumentary Borat and revived the character for 2020’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
When the sequel was released, a group of Kazakh Americans wrote in a public letter that the character had done “irreparable harm to Kazakhstan’s national image.”
Now, during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Cohen has issued an apology.
The comedian explained that he first developed the character for the BBC, at which time Borat was said to be from Albania.
He continued: “I want to apologize to the people of Kazakhstan, for the first time ever, because Borat has got nothing to do with Kazakhstan.”
Cohen explained: “Borat’s nation changed continually dependent on which channel was paying for him. I would just say: ‘Oh, that character’s at the BBC! I’ve got a completely new character. This character is called Alexi Krickler, he’s from Moldova.’ So it jumped around, and then finally when we did it on HBO I needed another place because HBO suddenly owned it.
Miming sticking his finger randomly on a map, Cohen said: “I went: ‘Where is a place that no one knows anything about? Kazakhstan!’”
Turning to the audience at New York’s 92nd Street Y, Cohen added: “So guys, Kazakhstanis out there, maybe some of you have been sent here on a specific mission... I’m asking you to abort that mission. I mean no harm. I respect your people, your culture. Please do not take it personally.”
Cohen recalled that when he first started performing the character, he received a complaint “quite rightly” from the Kazakh embassy. He admitted that he can’t do a Kazakh accent because “I don’t know your accent,” and acknowledged that Kazakhs “look nothing like Borat. Right? I mean, it’s next to Mongolia.”
Nevertheless, he used his Borat accent as he recalled the letter of complaint, which he said began: “Dear Mr. Cohen, why does your character have a mustache like this? Kazakhstanis do not have a mustache!”
He concluded: “The reality was, it had nothing to do with Kazakhstan, and everything to do with the ignorance of the people I speaking was to who could believe this crazy things would happen in a place they’d never heard of.”
Cohen is currently promoting another sequel Ali G: Who Iz I?, which one writer for The Independent described as “appalling.”
