Borat invited to “Homophobic” homeland
The comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has been invited to the home country of his fictional character, Borat by the country’s deputy foreign minister Rakhat Aliyev.
The comedian has been accused of unfairly branding the central Asian nation as a nation of misogynistic, homophobic and generally backward individuals
The invitation comes after the US release of the film that involves Cohen posing as a reporter making a documentary about American life and ensnaring unwitting individuals with his own brand of humour. It also follows the banning of the movie by the largest Kazakh cinema chain and the suppression of the comedian’s website by the Kazakh government.
This follows his controversial character, Ali G that received similar criticism, that time from members of the black community, despite the character and actor being far from black, but rather the character portrayed was an aspirational ‘rude boy’.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s humour continues to tread the fine line between ironic humour and offensive stereotyping. The sentiments are easily misinterpreted as his own opinion despite the comedic nature of his characters.
