By: E&P Staff It was a story all over the Web on Wednesday: With an upcoming movie featuring faux-journalist "Borat" drawing wide attention, top officials from the fictional character's native Kazakhstan were planning to complain about their country's treatment in the film -- in upcoming meetings with no less than President Bush.
The reports, first in British papers, seemed possible, for E&P had reported earlier this month that the Kazakh president was indeed coming to the U.S. for meetings with the president.
Alas, the story has now been strongly denied by Roman Vassilenko, the Press Secretary at the Kazakhstan Embassy. The late-September meetings "have nothing to do" with Borat or the movie, he told ABC News.
The White House was so caught up with the issue that it "dispelled the erroneous reporting three different times" to ABC News, the network reported.
In the "Borat" film, the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen plays Borat (as he did on his "Ali G" HBO series) as a Kazakh TV reporter who comes to the U.S. and humorously spews anti-female, anti-gypsy and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Cohen as Borat arrived at the Toronto International Film Festival last week in a cart pulled by six heavyset Kazakh women -- with a pony riding in the cart with him.
His portrayal has drawn scorn and threatened legal action from Kazakh officials in the past.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here