The Romani villagers were exploited into thinking they were in a documentary about their struggles in Romania, they were paid cents for their work and misrepresented, Cohen took advantage of their lack of English ability and legal protection to misrepresent innocent people and exploit them. This is not how you properly do a satire by treating marginalized people like show animals and it’s very different from showing the real racial biases of Americans in his later interviews as the Roma were misrepresented on our culture and way of life in a way that was extremely offensive to our culture.
@@benitocamela174 what do you mean by boo hoo cry me a river? :), are you saying he’s lying? Or that insulting and mistreating people in several ways is ok? You seem like a smart person so I’d like you to explain, thanks :).
Wow. I knew about a fair number of controversies about Borat, but I have never heard about this one. It really goes to show how Romani exploitation is accepted compared to all the other groups who are discriminated against in the film (and other of his movies).
Not True Romi Culture is Protected by governments globally and have government funding. Cops turn a blind eye to their occupation (Stealing everything) Also breaking their childrens arm or leg to beg for money. Fucking Disgusting
If anyone dared to do something like this to his Jewish people, they would have gotten the whole world would to cancel, boycott, character assassinate, sue and bankrupt the culprits. The hypocrisy!
That's why I like Conan O'Brien so much more. He goes to a particular country or to particular people and makes fun of himself and makes those people laugh. Unlike Sacha Cohen who goes to a particular country to mock at them. This is disgusting
His whole point was look how stupid American hicks are, but he made a film where he dehumanized people who “western world” still viewed as acceptable targets of dehumanization.
@@Izanagi057 ah yes bullying is when critiques are launched at famous people. If “doing better” (which idk what you mean as you do not know this person) means humiliating others I’d rather be in my worst stage in life. Americans really have a poor sense of what satire is. Even most English satire is aimed at some sort of self depreciation not bent on mockery.
This reminds me of snide remarks old kdrama (some recent kdramas still do passive aggressively) makes with Filipinos/South East Asians/South Asians or if a character goes to the Philippines/South East Asia (except Singapore)/South Asia. The struggle with unnecessary hate/discrimination is not exactly the same but I can kind of relate. The best thing we can do about such treatment is to keep fighting!!
This is so cruel. Growing up jewish my mother has always been very open about the atrocities the roma faced, especially since they were affected by the holocaust as well. To see another jewish person treat the roma like this is disgusting. He of all people should understand how disgusting this is
@@prairiehorse6168 that's so fucked up too we are supposed to treat each other with kindness and respect we are meant to try and be the best people we can thats why we are put on this earth
What. The. Fuck. I never saw this movie cause when it came out I was like "oh that looks dumb" then forgot it existed. I'm floored. This is just sickening.
Whats ironic is the Kazakh president maybe ex president hated this movie too due to his people being shown as Romani but then proceeds to say a bunch of racist shit which just makes him fit the stereotype of suppose Kazakh people shown in the movie
The film is satire. And I enjoyed it before I knew they exploited the village. I assumed the village was in on the joke. Now it’s just cringe to think about. Comedy shouldn’t punch down.
Sup, Kazakh native who now lives in the US here. Anytime I mention to people that I was born in Kazakhstan they either have no idea where I'm talking about or they go "BORAT?!?!? WAWAWEEWA, very nice." And then I have to just sit there and be like "ha, yeah, that." Got to admit it does get a little irritating
I'm from kazakhstan and was always angry at this movie for stereotyping country and culture that was not very known already, so I ve never watched it. The fact that they exploited romani people like this is awful, it should've not been done. It's not satire if it hurts real people like that, it's just beating down
"beating down" lmao you people love to virtue signal. The concept of humor doesn't change if the subject of the joke is privileged or not dumbass. It's still satire wether you like it or not. Just say you don't like it instead or that it's harmful.
"I'm a radical leftist and I only find humor funny when it's making fun of people more privileged than me" what a load of bullshit you know you don't need to be fake
Didnt know that, totall valid criticism. But idk I think Borat is still one if the most commical guys, on the level of Eric Andre. But their style isnt quite ethical, cause they both usually say something like "its a documentary" so they can get away with more. Borats banned from Kazakstan cause of the movie, so id say thats pretty fair punishment. Ill definitely watch him with a more critical eye, and maybe pirate instead (: But in defense of Eric Andre and to further critque Borat. Eric Andre doesnt get consent initially, but Im pretty sure he always does after, he lets people in on the gag and thats the right way to go about it. Youll notice in some of his things, faces are blurred cause he respected that some people didnt want their likeness associated with him. And Borat should have done it that way at least, its not fair to that village for people who didnt wanna be in the film to be put in the film, and for him to allow them to think it was a doc up to release, thats just really sh!tty.
never saw the movie because I always felt it was not my kind of humor, but this piece of info about the making of it really takes the cake. utterly disgusting. if he had done the same to anyone in the US they would have taken him to court and he would have bled millions and would have had his movie banned or at least those scenes. he did it because he felt it being abroad he wouldn't get any repercussions. Absolutely despicable human being. Edit: also, it doesn't qualify as satire if he actually lied to those people. if you want to create satire everyone participating has to be aware of it and be in on the joke. this is not satire, it's just plain sinister.
@@gxtmfa and quite a few people did try to take him to court but in the US it seems they were smart enough to have people sign releases. doesn't change that it's a shit thing to do.
We talk about Borat as a case where the was not informed consent and the problem with courts and contracts in my law class. My proff pointed out that the entire movie used tons of manipulation and was extremely...unscrupulous in its filming. I def won't ever watch it
And then he went and complained about antisemitism at some conference. As if this guy has room to complain about discrimination. Another thing he did is film a Palestinian man from Bethlehem and call him Osama and a terrorist. I think he told him he wanted to film his hobby or business too.
It happens to amish people all the time with no outrage. I won't say the accused behaviour is good. But let's not pretend that it isn't common. It is common
To be honest . I watched that film and it’s disgusting. The villagers deserve compensation. It’s honestly so infuriating that they couldn’t get the funds . I feel like there is no justice for the marginalised. They are forced to survive. Then they are ridiculed for their way of life . Honestly, there is no winning .
@@carterdunlap9957 they dont deserve shit they stole copper wires if you find that racist you are daydreaming wake up they abusse wellfare sistem to never work and stay lazy and them blame racism , 9/10 gypsy are involved in nonlegal means welcome to eastern europe
@@carterdunlap9957 I mean the crew should also apologise to the general public for releasing such an atrocity. When I watched it I really couldn’t get past how the humour was basically “ haha Foreign man is dumb and doesn’t know customs” trope. The whole thing is just incredibly stupid. It feels so childish, it’s like pointing at outsiders and marvelling at how “odd” they are … when the world we live in us very international. It just doesn’t make any sense . What were we even meant to laugh at ? At the time I just thought that it just wasn’t my taste . I also presume that I didn’t really like American humour .
They got paid lmao.... you must be one of the people demanding reparations for slavery. Just be quiet the movies popular still and those people got paid and live in those slums.
Yeah none of the people in Borat knew they were in a movie. The cast and crew lied to absolutely everyone that appeared in that film in order to tape genuine uncomfortable reactions of normal people. This movie made me so massively uncomfortable when I saw it in theaters. The concept of “informed consent” was clearly lacking and it makes the movie itself just upsetting.
They were lied to and said it was a documentary about their struggles, and no it wasn’t “genuine” reactions, they were completely misrepresented, it’s very different from what he did to Americans who actually showed their bigotry, what he did to Romani people was reinforce negative stereotypes at the expense of extremely impoverished marginalized communities that thought he was there to help, that’s unethical and there is no way to defend that.
@@florida.florian I am not trying to dispute that he lied to and exploited the Romani community differently than he did to other people appearing in the film. I am trying to communicate that the movie as a whole gave me the “ick” factor. I am not defending any part of this movie. I don’t believe “he treated everyone badly” is a defense for anyone or anything. I understand that everyone who appeared in the film was mistreated and exploited and I think the entire production was unethical.
@@florida.florianunethical art is still valid and can still be good- grafitti art for example is literally illegal/exploitative/immoral and and can still be valid and enjoyable art.
@@pa1832 Graffiti art is very often not immoral or exploitative, even if it is illegal. And Borat is much more about making fun of Americans than making fun of Romaoni people or whatever. Not saying it's perfect, but it's not evil.
Even if the point of that was ultimately to expose the racist “under”belly of America, subjecting the VICTIMS of fascism to the same treatment as the perpetrators just kills the message
I had no idea. The movie wasn't my cup of tea in general. While I did like how he exposed some bigots of being bigots (in retrospect not such a difficult task as people were giving him credit), turns out he acted like a bigot too.
Sooo... This was not even in Kasakhstan you're telling me🧐? Evryone so butthurt all the damn time.. if everyone is going buhu😢 for everything that they dont see the humor in. Why even bother living come on..
I knew that that they filmed in Romania and not Kazakhstan. I didn’t know that the villagers were Romani and had been lied to. And that weren’t in on the fact that this movie was satire; plus told it was a documentary. That isn’t funny at all. I know the Romani people are still treated terribly in Romania and other countries as well.
He also exploited Kazakh ethnicity as the film is supposedly about kazakh Borat. To this day foreigners associate Borat with Kazakhstan. It is so offensive. Kazakhstan and Kazakh people are nothing like Borat.
The more I learned about Kazakhstan and its people, the less I understood what SBC was trying to do with the film. It was as if he did no research into the country at all.
@@manchesterunited4619 I know but it wasn’t even a parody of Kazakhstan, nothing even resembled it, it would be like making fun of the UK but filming it in Paraguay
@@blackelton7127 Yeah, but since when was the movie even supposed to parody that country? Isn't the movie 90% about America? Like, how *Americans* react to what Borat does and says is a huge part of the movie.
Thank you for speaking up against this movie. As a Kazakh, I found this movie very racist, but now, knowing it's racist towards Romani people as well, i can't help but wish it never existed
Even besides the struggles the Roma had to deal with threw out history the fact someone is willing to film a movie and degrade anyone in such a way is horrible and disgusting
Thank you for talking about this and showing how horrible this people were treated. And it's one thing that this disgusting behaviour happened but Sasha Baron Cohen had now around 2 decades to apologise and he didn't. I hope he'll get asked about this in future interviews.
Why would he apolgize. Everyone in both borat movies wasnt in on the joke. The joke for the most part isnt the people themselves its usually borat acting inappropriate
oh.... you know, when i first saw people talking about this movie and how "funny" it is, I was really confused because I just thought that it was really stupid. I mean, not only because it seemed not very good in the comedy aspect all, but also the entire thing seemed weirdly racist (which was obvious of course). but the fact that they exploited an entire village and took advantage of the language barrier?????? that just seems plain evil. like, how important such an offensive and idiotic movie has to be in order to gaslight a whole society of people to let someone film this trash??? really... all the people that like this movie must be uncultured swine.. i just can't wrap my head around this. how come they are not even a single bit embarrassed of themselves? it must be the fault of complete lack of critical thinking skills, then.
Lmao the movie was hilarious. The vast majority of the world agrees with me. You watched a short clip and sided with people who live in those conditions because they are jew Hating criminals and addicts.
Sorry if you’ve shared & I missed it - where CAN we watch a respectful documentary about the Romani people? I’d love to learn more about them & their culture & lifestyle. ❤
A really great documentary about modern Romani struggles is Welcome Nowhere it’s about a Romani village my daughters family was from being displaced and moved into train cars.
I'm very sorry for the situation, I didn't know the story behind this movie and I haven't seen it because I really don't like that humor or it attracts me, I knew what made fun of cultures but not at this level!!! As a Mexican I can understand the courage, rage and anger at the mockery of your culture and that we are portrayed with idiotic and false stereotypes that they still make fun of us and they see us as people who are ignorant, poor and live in the desert, obviously not!!!
Not only they created fucking stereotypes about my motherland Kazakhstan, they used those pure souls 😕 and the way everyone loved this movie in america... Icks
thank you for sharing this!! I grew up on borat, it made me feel terrible while watching it. because my whole family liked it, I thought there had to be something valid to it, so i liked it for the rodeo scene and the dinner party scene, but now that I know this info about the way it was disingenuously filmed, it is off my shelf. I have no interest in watching it again, it is vindicating knowing that it isn't just "complex, deep satire" and actually is terible all around. 🖤💜💙💚💙💜🖤 More room in my life now for great Roma art and films!! I'm so glad I subscribed to you!! Thank you!!! 🖤💜💙💚💙💜🖤 Much Love!!
Wow! I literally had no idea. I never watched the entire film. I saw clips but the main character was annoying. This is so disgusting. Like those models who pose with villagers around while they have on their insanely expensive items and the villagers are sometimes just working, using them as props. This behavior is shameful.
have you seen sasha baren cohens work. Most of it his him doing a character and punking people into beliving the character is real. Romani people are people and it shouldnt be considered wrong for him to punk americans but punking romani people in romania is wrong.
Wow, I didnt know that. I understood he was shooting a satire and the movies he makes is dark satire. But the romani side to it, I think there is no excuse and this is indeed exploitative
So most documentaries everybody you see in it doesn't get paid and also how would they miss represent it if they were the ones representing if like they thought it was real if that's not how it actually is why wouldn't they show that if it's a documentary?
Even growing up the movie rubbed me the wrong way. My parents taught me to put myself in the shoes of the exploited in every situation to assess who deserved sympathy. Being a brown person, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for SBC to fly out to my country and make jokes about my people for the entertainment of white people in Europe and Americas.
Oh my god. That is just...sickening. Ive seen the movie but i had no clue those were the Romani people and they were tricked too. Of all the Borat controversies, why wasnt this one focused on?? That makes me so angry for them. And i bet they didnt even get paid or anything either
I had no idea that the people from the village weren't actors! That's beyond fucked up. I remember not liking the movie, but every time I learn more, it gets worse!
it is mocking it and you would know if you watched it. the movie criticises racism is every way but directly stating ‘racism bad’ but some morons still don’t get the premis
This is and what he did to that Jewish holocaust survivor in the second movie are probably the worst things I’ve heard about his controversies. This is really awful.
What kinda bothers me is they could have done both. The film was meant as social commentary, showing the struggles of romani people would absolutely not detract from that. (Also paying those people fairly would be nice)
This project doesn't get enough criticism, thanks for talking about this! Dismissing it because it's comedy, and never questioning the ethics behind it, shutting down any criticism by saying "you just don't get it, it's satire" is so closeminded.
That's so shocking! Using people like this is disgusting and disrespectful! And the saddest thing is, a documentary would have sounded actually really good. Are there any you would recommend? I really want to know more about your culture and your hardships. It's really important to know in my opinion.
Never even heard of this movie, but I am glad to have learned about it in this way. How absolutely heartless and immoral can people be to lack empathy to such a degree as to not realize that this is wrong?
The movie was extremely popular and meme-able in its time, which is what makes this so sad. The irony is that the "satire" was over the media's prejudices and poor representation of Jews. And he addressed it by poorly representing and ridiculing two entirely other groups of people: Kazakh and Romani.
@@dboot8886 Their is 7.5 billion people in the world no matter how popular something is in some regions. Everyone can’t possibly know of it in others and even in the regions it’s popular.
They did what nearly every big industry does every day to a much worse degree. It's still wrong what the movie guys did but if we talk about this as a problem we should talk about the industry as well because they're the much bigger problem
I find Sasha uses people to his advantage then virtue signals about other things but never addresses how he uses people and makes them look like fools and doesn’t care cause it’s what makes money
I did watch the movie years ago & it was disgusting! I didn’t realize they were Romani, I thought they were Kazakh, but regardless it was clear they were horribly misrepresented and made out to be ignorant slobs which was cruel. 💔
I will support my Hindu Brothers... Hindu fraternity should flourish... If you ever feel horriblw you can always come back to India.... We will NEVER treat you bad... I hope some Indian Make Good documantaries and films on Roma people 😊
@@Cindy99765 they don't follow Christian culture and Hindus are the most tolerant religion in the world, there lives many Christians, Muslims and Jews and People of other religion in India with Indian Citizenship will that happen in Jordan, Poland, Saudi Arabia or Palestine... 😂like you are asking a Hindu that too an Indian out of all people... You IDIOT
Sounds like Hindutva Hindu nationalism aka right wingers in power committing a ll sorts of violence today in India and diaspora while playing the victim as if Hindu are the oppressed ones 🙄
@@romarose *_Why_* can't we learn to accept people and their differences, as they are ?? I'm not religious myself... but I wish and hope that someday, _all_ people can follow the religion, and culture, they sincerely choose, without feeling they _have_ to change to try to fit in. Then maybe the world will be a better place.
I was adopted from Kazakhstan and the one thing I’ve heard growing up in the west about my birth country has been Borat jokes 😒 How about educate yourselves and learn a little bit about Kazakhstan. Romani people did not deserve to be disrespected and inaccurately portrayed either. Bad comedy.
This really sucks, I didn't know this and I'm glad to have found out. I saw the movies and even knowing it's meant as satire, the racist and antisemitic parts were super cringeworthy and hard to watch
Sick. He should be sued for defamation. I can let go of this movie. Like most things from 15+ years ago, it’s aged poorly. I can’t let go of knowing what a disgusting person Sacha is for abusing and exploiting these people. SHAME. Thanks for spreading the word Florian.
He was, twice, but every time they were thrown out due to lack of evidence and the allegations being too vague. Fox also claims that the production team and Sacha himself each donated $5,000 as well as computers, school and business supplies.
I'm not defending the people Who made the film,but that film Is all like this. There's a scene where Borat Is on the NY sub and a chicken comes out of his suitcase.
If you make your satire by doing the kind of racist bullshit that you are trying to make fun of then what is the point of it exactly? That is my view on it at least, he could've just built a fucking set and paid actors for this part there was literally no need to do this, it's appalling
Wooow That’s soo sick what they did to those people. I haven’t watched Borat in 15 yrs. I think I can go the rest of my life never watching that filth again.
I saw this film and never enjoyed the reality of him making fun of the people in it, especially whilst they were hospitable to him. I did not watch his later material.
I never watched anything by Borat and don’t plan to start now. I understood how the production company exploited the village in terms of $$, which I’m not surprised about as they will try to pay as little as possible to anyone that will accept it. What exactly did the movie have the people do that made them so upset with the portrayal?
Humans punching down is something all humans should cry about. Those who don’t care about others should find another planet. I hear some billionaires need minions for their non-terrestrial colonies.
Can we not focus on the roma and i stead focus on the kazakh????ya onow....who the movie is actially making fun of? This movie and acene is literally saying kazakh and roma are interchangeable by appearance
Reason #47 to think that movie & that actor have zero redeeming factors and I'm so sick of people saying, "but satire!" Except satire is just not satire when it's just a way to be racist and get away with it - like a white dude trying to figure out when it's okay for him to use the n-word 🤢🤢🤢
I'm sorry for the exploitation. I thank you for Educating me as a Minority myself and humans like me were MURDERED along with the Romani people during the Holocaust.
WTF. I’ve watched this movie so many times to. Thank you for telling me this. I literally do the “you’ll never get this” monthly. I won’t anymore and I’ll tell ppl why to. I’m sorry.
