English Comic Responds To Kazakh Legal Threat

Cohen portraying Borat at the MTV awards on 3 November (epa) 25 November 2005 -- A Jewish British comedian who plays a boorish Kazakh character on television has satirically welcomed a legal threat from Almaty.

Responding as his television personality "Borat Sagdiyev," Sacha Baron Cohen said today that he "fully supports my government's position to sue this Jew."

Earlier this month, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry threatened legal action after Cohen, as Borat, hosted the annual MTV Europe Music Awards.

The ministry called Cohen's behavior unacceptable and suggested he might be serving political orders to tarnish Kazakhstan's reputation.

Cohen portrays Borat as racist and sexist.

In one television show, Borat says that in America, "they treat horses like we in Kazakhstan treat our women. They feed them two times a day. They have them sleep on straw in a small box. And for entertainment, they make them jump over fences while being whipped."

(Reuters)