Kazakhstan's tourist board has adopted Borat's catchphrase 'very nice' as their official slogan after years of the country trying to distance themselves from the outrageous character. Borat, played by English comedian Sacha Bara Cohen, is a fictional character that claims to come from Kazakhstan. He first appeared in 'Da Ali G Show' and then gained his own spin-off show and a full length movie. Now, just as the sequel to his movie is released, known in full as 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan', the Kazakhs seem to have had a change of heart.
Following the release of the 2005 film, many Kazakhs were outraged at the antisemitic, racist, sexist and utterly offensive character who they thought reflected badly on their nation, with the government even releasing a huge 'Heart of Eurasia' public relations campaign to counter 'the Borat effect'. Though, upon viewing the film, Kazakh ambassador to the United Kingdom, Erlan Idrissov, did say that it was indeed funny and 'placed Kazakhstan on the map'.
All scenes in the original movie claiming to be in Kazakhstan were, in fact, filmed in a village in Romania known as 'Glod', a village that subsequently became enraged at their portrayal and even attempted to sue Cohen. One villager told abc news in 2008:
"If I see Borat, I will kill him with my own hands."
The change of heart by the Kazakhstan tourist board was in part due to the actions of Dennis Keen, a former American exchange student who now lives in Kazakhstan, and his colleague, Yermek Utemissov, who were the producers of the new tourist board film suggesting that the use of Borat's catchphrase had great appeal.
Kairat Sadvakassov, the deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's tourism board, told the New York Times about Kazakhstan's new attitude towards Borat, saying:
"In COVID times, when tourism spending is on hold, it was good to see the country mentioned in the media. Not in the nicest way, but it's good to be out there."
Sacha Bara Cohen commented on why he had chosen Kazakhstan as the homeland for Borat saying:
"I chose Kazakhstan because it was a place that almost nobody in the US knew anything about, which allowed us to create a wild, comedic, fake world. The real Kazakhstan is a beautiful country with a modern, proud society—the opposite of Borat's version. The Kazakhstan in the film has nothing to do with the real country."
The actor certainly seems to be happy that Kazakhstan has finally forgiven him for his portrayal. It has been noted that since the 2005 release of 'Borat' tourist numbers have greatly increased, with many Westerners intrigued by the nation and its quite significant geographic isolation from the rest of the world.
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