Six Czech Tourists Arrested In Kazakhstan For Wearing ‘Borat’ Mankinis
“This is my country of Kazakhstan. It locate between Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, and assholes Uzbekistan.”
It’s been more than a decade now since Sacha Baron Cohen’s cult classic Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan it’s still being referenced today. While, yeah sure, the humor is crude, often racist, sexist, and rather offensive to people from Kazakhstan, it’s endlessly quotable and no one will soon forget the image of Borat in his neon-yellow mankini.
This past Friday, a group of six Czech tourists, suited up in their matching mankinis and braved the snowy weather of the Kazakh capital, Astana to snap a Borat-inspired photo. While they thought they were pretty funny, city officials did not agree.
“Wawaweewa!”
They were left at a loss for words when police detained them for “minor hooliganism” and charged them each a fine of 22,500 Tenge (about $67).
The photo may have been in good fun, but for Kazakh citizens, it was a reminder of their country’s reputation as being racist, sexist, and underdeveloped, due in large part to the film and its legacy. In fact, the film was made illegal in the country and the government threatened to sue Cohen.
The fact still remains that pulling a stunt like this is just not culturally acceptable in Kazakhstan, where frolicking around nearly nude in public is a big no-no.
Commenters on Instagram went as far as to say:
"This is teasing, they should have been jailed,"
[email protected]_solar__eclipse_
"They should have had a criminal charge for insulting the honour of the nation,"
-commenter
For their sake, I sure hope they were able to capture a photo before being stopped by police. A souvenir like that would be “very naiiice” to have!
