Last update - 00:00 20/11/2006
Posters advertising Borat movie sanitized for Israeli consumption
By Nirit Anderman and Haaretz Staff
The posters advertising the movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," which will premiere in Israel on 30 November, were rejected by Maximedia, the billboard agency.
The rejected posters show Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the role of a Kazakh reporter by the name of Borat Sagdiyev, wearing a tiny bathing suit. The new posters will show Borat in a suit.
The movie, that cost $18 million to produce, has grossed in the first two and a half weeks of screenings more than $135 million around the world.
British-born Baron Cohen, who is also famous for his character Ali G, has drawn some criticism for the portrayal of the anti-Semitic Borat. Baron Cohen himself is Jewish.
In September, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement on the movie, which stated that the film "has raised anew concerns among some in the Jewish community about the character's notoriously boastful expressions of anti-Semitism and stereotyping of others."
While the ADL accepted that the character of Borat was satirical, the organization expressed concerns that "the audience may not always be sophisticated enough to get the joke."