Sacha Baron Cohen, director and star of the comedy "Borat," has publicly apologized to the citizens of Kazakhstan for linking his character to the country, the website infohub.kz reports.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with American journalist Josh Horowitz, the actor and comedian recalled how, after the film's release, Kazakhstan's embassy lodged a protest that he considered entirely justified.
"Kazakhstanis, I apologize. I can't do your accent. I don't even know what your accent is. (...) My knowledge of Central Asian accents is very limited. Please, Kazakhstanis, don't be offended. I have great respect for you," Cohen said.
The actor also stressed that Kazakhstanis look nothing like his character, Borat Sagdiyev.
"In fact, none of this (the Borat character — ed.) had anything to do with Kazakhstan. It was entirely and completely the ignorance of the people I spoke to — those who were ready to believe that all this absurdity could be happening in a place they had never heard of in their lives," the actor added.
Recall that when the trailer for the second Borat film was released, a petition was launched against it. The U.S. Consulate General in Almaty then responded to a petition from Kazakhstanis demanding a ban on screenings of "Borat 2," about a fictional Kazakh journalist. Sacha Baron Cohen, director and star of the two-part Borat comedy, later explained why he chose Kazakhstan to depict in his film.