24 Mar 2012

Borat 'anthem' outrages Kazakhs at medal ceremony

2:02 pm on 24 March 2012

Kazakhstan's shooting team has demanded an apology after a spoof national anthem from the film Borat was played at a medal ceremony at a championships in Kuwait.

The team's coach told Kazakh media the organisers had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake.

Stunned at the error, the team insisted on an apology. The medal ceremony was later rerun.

The spoof song praises Kazakhstan for its superior potassium exports and for having the cleanest prostitutes in the region.

It was produced by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for the film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, released in 2006,

The movie, which shows Kazakhs as backward and bigoted, outraged people in the country.

It was eventually banned in Kazakhstan. The government also threatened Baron Cohen with legal action.