Borat’s Allah Ring And Mankini Spark Muslim Anger In Paris

WHENEVER Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen releases a new comedy video or film outrage frequently follows, and posters for his latest – Borat II-New Filmed Mission – is reportedly being branded by Muslims in Paris as ‘blasphemous.’

Leaving aside the Cohen’s near-nudity, the main bone of contention, according to numerous press reports, is Borat’s ring: it’s bears the Arabic symbol for Allah, Islam’s version of The Almighty that Christian fundamentalists insist is a pagan moon God.

Trouble, according to this Yahoo! report, began shortly after posters for the movie – the second most streamed release of 2020 on subscription platforms this year – began appearing on buses.

Yahoo! says that in the face of mounting anger some Paris bus companies decided to remove the posters. The TICE network in the southern suburb of Évry confirmed they have scrapped the posters, though they cited “inappropriate” humour and denied it was due to religious controversy.

But state-owned public transport operator RATP told The Times it would:

Under no circumstances take this campaign off our network.

RATP also denied claims that the posters had led to attacks on buses in the city, stating that such vandalism was common over the Halloween period.

The Sun, citing French publication Le Parisien, reported that the posters had been called “provocative” and “lacking respect” for Islam. Other French media used the term “blasphemous.”

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm has caused controversy in a number of arenas since it was released on Amazon Prime Video last month.

It was criticised by the Kazakh-American community as “racist” and a babysitter who featured in the film said she felt “betrayed” by the way she was depicted.

The moment Giuliani learned that Biden would be America’s next president. Image via YouTube/The Guardian

A fortnight ago, Rudy Giuliani, above, Trump’s personal lawyer, was angrily defending himself after a clip from Borat 2 showed him apparently fiddling with his crotch. It happened as he lay on a bed in a hotel room where he had gone for a drink with a young woman, actor Maria Bakalova, who was posing as a Kazakh television journalist.

He explained later “I was tucking in my shirt.” He denied any wrongdoing and described the footage as a “complete fabrication.”

Now he finds himself in another mortifying position: having to bring frivolous court actions in a hopeless bid to keep Drumpf in the White House for another four years.