# www.borat.kz shut down **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584 "2005-12-14T14:48:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/1 "2005-12-14T14:48:10Z")
I have just found out the Kazakhstani government has had www.borat.kz, the official website of noted TV personality Borat Sagdiyev. Yerzhan Ashykbayev, the Kazakhstani foreign minister, had slammed Borat’s behaviour, describing it as “utterly unacceptable, being a concoction of bad taste and ill manners which is completely incompatible with ethics and civilised behaviour” and “[did not] rule out that Mr Cohen is serving someone’s political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way.” The Mr. Cohen in quesion is of course Sacha Baron; the Bafta-winning British creator of Borat as well as Ali G, Bruno and more lovable characters (as seen on HBO) originally shown on the “Ali G” series on the British Channel 4. www.borat.kz has been shut down and the Kazakhstani government is considering legal action, which spurred Borat to release the following in a video statement: "Since the 2003 reforms, Kazakhstan is as civilized as any country in the world. Women can now travel on inside of bus. Homosexuals have no longer to wear blue hats. And age of consent has been raised to eight years old. Please, captains of industry, I encourage you come to Kazakhstan where we have incredible natural resources, hard working labour and some of the cleanest prostitutes in whole of Central Asia. Goodbye. Dziękuję\*" For the record, this would never have happened in Turkmenistan under the wise and fair president Niyazov who, in addition to having a wonderful sense of humour, has such good taste that he has outlawed lip-syncing, car radios, golden tooth fillings, beards and ballet. More news is sure to follow; position yourselves safely on the edges of your respective seats. \*I’m not entirely sure he’s actually saying dziękuję but it sounds about right, makes sense and sure as heck seems better than the alternatives I’m seeing around the web (Chenque?!?!). ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/2 "2005-12-14T16:52:32Z")
Poor Borat. And after that incredible performance as the lead role in _The Dirty Jew_. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/3 "2005-12-14T17:39:19Z")
Yeah, it’s becoming a pile-on now: > [@](#): > > “the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish anti-racism group, complained to HBO after Borat performed a Country and Western song that called on people to ‘throw the Jew down the well’, warning them that ‘you must be careful of his teeth’ and that ‘you must grab him by the horns’, to applause from an audience in Tucson, Arizona.” From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/4 "2005-12-14T17:52:19Z")
Some people wouldn’t recognize satire if it ate their baby… ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/5 "2005-12-14T18:27:21Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Some people wouldn’t recognize satire if it ate their baby… Well, that’s not the ADL’s thing. I’d wager they know it’s a joke, they may well even think it’s funny, but they also think that it can lead to actual violence against jews amongst folks who don’t get the joke. Given history, this isn’t exactly an irrational view to have, even though I think it’s the wrong approach to take. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/6 "2005-12-14T18:50:21Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > Yeah, it’s becoming a pile-on now: > > From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat) > > :rolleyes: That was actually quite a hilarious sketch. And, yes. Many times when his character speaks Kazakh, he’s throwing in Polish words like “dziękuję” (thank you) and “jak się masz” (how are you). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/www-borat-kz-shut-down/335584/7 "2005-12-14T23:07:55Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Well, that’s not the ADL’s thing. I’d wager they know it’s a joke, they may well even think it’s funny, but they also think that it can lead to actual violence against jews amongst folks who don’t get the joke. Not to make much in the way of equivalence here, but as a short person who was taunted through the late seventies and early eighties with verses of Randy Newman’s “Short People,” I’d put my chips on the same square.