bruno, characters, dancing, defamer, entertainment, kansas, middle america, movies...

Sacha Baron Cohen Plays First Gay Man To Visit Kansas

Sacha "Borat" Baron "Ali G" Cohen is working on his upcoming flick about his character "Bruno," the supergay Austrian fashion reporter. Since everyone on both coasts (except for Ben Affleck) is obviously too familiar with his work to be punked, Bruno has traveled to the heart of flyover land, Wichita, Kansas. Where he was captured on film doing supergay stuff! His act reportedly "almost looked like pornography," at least to Kansas sensibilities. After the jump, video [via Towleroad] of Bruno and his funky pants dance, which brings joy to the dreary confines of the Wichita terminal.

11:16 AM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Hamilton Nolan
8,524 views
35 comments

Comments

Chief Wahoo at 11:22 AM on 03/31/08
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Kansas, where Sascha Baron Cohen, the Theory of Evolution and non-related spouses are still news.
VoxPopuli at 11:24 AM on 03/31/08
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C'mon Kansas - you're the land of Dorothy. Don't be afraid of the geighs.
BettyCrocker at 11:24 AM on 03/31/08
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I would love it if he could get Sally Kern - man, that would be classic.
famousauthor at 11:36 AM on 03/31/08
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I understand Kansas had a gay governor. But he was in the closet, so I guess you may be technically correct.
kokotaylor at 11:37 AM on 03/31/08
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Larry the Cable Guy is seated to the right
Mike_Jahn at 11:37 AM on 03/31/08
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There's something truly revolting about him. He's way over the line here.
if_i_only_had_a_heart at 11:44 AM on 03/31/08
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special guest appearance: the flying spaghetti monster
BalknChain at 11:45 AM on 03/31/08
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Fly-Over States Lose
BettyCrocker at 11:48 AM on 03/31/08
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@Mike_Jahn: Yes and no.

He's acting a flamboyant stereotype, true. But one of the primary objectives of the religious right is to marginalize gay men and women by bringing back the closet. You see it all the time: "Why can't they just be private about it? Why are they so in our faces with it?"

I prefer to spend my time in the company of gay men who don't call eachother "Girl!" and who don't wear Daisy Dukes. However, I am extremely grateful for flamboyant gay men and the courage that they show by putting it out there. Without them, America would be stuck in the 1950s when it comes to gay rights.

Let your gay flag fly, Sacha! Wake those hicks up!
BettyCrocker at 11:49 AM on 03/31/08
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@kokotaylor: And what will Tim Gunn do about it?
Bell County at 11:49 AM on 03/31/08
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@Mike_Jahn: But I don't think there's anything inherently revolting about him; he works very hard at it.
VirusWithShoes at 11:50 AM on 03/31/08
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Was that Hervé Villechaize dancing with him?

If it was, he's looking great these days. What an ass!
WordSalad at 11:54 AM on 03/31/08
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Won't you take me to Funky Town?
marvel girl at 11:55 AM on 03/31/08
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I assumed the guy behind him was with them until he started creepily copying their crotch grabbing hip swirling dance... wtf?
Nard38 at 12:01 PM on 03/31/08
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@VirusWithShoes: Silly Virus! Tattoo died of lead poisoning in 1993.
VirusWithShoes at 12:30 PM on 03/31/08
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@Nard38: I think it was wishful thinking on my part.

The news can get things wrong, sometimes.
AndIAmTellingYou at 12:35 PM on 03/31/08
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Love the blonde trolley queen stopping dead in her tracks (0:14), wondering why she wasn't invited to the party...
fiveinchtaint at 12:35 PM on 03/31/08
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This will most certainly be funny. As for being over the line? Nah. I thought the whole point of his characters was to expose
fiveinchtaint at 12:37 PM on 03/31/08
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... the bigotry in those he interviews.
Nard38 at 12:41 PM on 03/31/08
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@VirusWithShoes: You've got to stop living on that fantasy island.
Nard38 at 12:42 PM on 03/31/08
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@fiveinchtaint: Agr
Nard38 at 12:43 PM on 03/31/08
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@fiveinchtaint: eed.
HiredGoons at 12:50 PM on 03/31/08
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@Mike_Jahn: I agree, unless he actually is gay, he is only reinforcing stereotypes and prejudices. At least he made it out alive.
fiveinchtaint at 12:54 PM on 03/31/08
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@Nard38: Ha. I'm dumb today.
mladen at 12:57 PM on 03/31/08
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And just wait till you see what he did to the (William S. Burroughs Memorial) men's room at the Lawrence airport. Gonna take some Janitor In A Drum to get that out.
Elektra at 01:00 PM on 03/31/08
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@VirusWithShoes:

I don't think it's so much the case that his dance partner is v. v. short as it is that SBC is v. v. tall.

And seems, per this and Sweeney Tood, to like to stuff his shorts.

Unless, of course...

Oh.

My goodness.
the Librarian at 01:13 PM on 03/31/08
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What we are all waiting for is for Cohen, who is obviously Jewish, to do a gross stereotype of a Jewish person in one of these films. That would be truly brave. (diclaimer: I am several minority groups myself)
VirusWithShoes at 02:09 PM on 03/31/08
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@Elektra: Yeah - I heard he was a bit of a shower too.

That's "show-er" btw. I'm not comparing him to anything relating to bathrooms.
NoGrumpys at 04:18 PM on 03/31/08
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His follow up is a remake of a classic TV show called:

KATE AND ALI G
kit10indublin at 06:25 PM on 03/31/08
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Unfunny & unoriginal. Please see Chris Morris 'Brasseye' from 11 years ago for the source of all SBC's nicked ideas. And one of 'Brasseye's' writers too!
Gayyker at 07:19 PM on 03/31/08
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@kit10indublin: Brasseye was brilliant
judithvansteppes at 07:42 PM on 03/31/08
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Perhaps the point of Bruno may be to embarrass homophobes, along with poking fun at gay fashion divas who deserve a kick in the ass [yes, I'm gay so don't read that as an anti-gay statement or I'll come to your house and call you a tranny mess without questioning my entitlement to make trans jokes] but the punchline of Borat was tantamount to blackface. All Cohen did was paint the people of Kazakhstan as lecherous Jew-hating barbarians and then mock them when they took offense.
GayhawkAZ at 09:16 PM on 03/31/08
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I'm sorry, but if SBC thinks he's shocking Kansas folk, he has another thing coming. Yeah, he picked Wichita, probably because he knew he wouldn't have a fucking chance anywhere else in the state. Manhattan, Topeka and Lawrence (and yes, even the Kansas side of Kansas City, including all of Johnson County) are all way too gay-savvy for him to have succeeded with his so-called "shocking" and patently stereotypical "character".

My friends and I were breaking mores and failing to conform to the norm long before SBC came up with the idea of Bruno and we did it with less money and WAY more style than this sad so-called "star" will ever achieve.

Sasha Cohen should run back to the UK and get another job. I hear Julian Clary needs someone to carry his luggage.
Little Mintz Sunshine at 01:53 AM on 04/01/08
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Having relatives in KS, I can state that yes, there are "gays" in Kansas. They are called "bachelors" and "Your Second Cousin Lonnie. You r'member, Elvira's boy." As for lesbians, they are any single woman over 21, college educated, willing to pay more than $15 for a hair cut and not married to someone named Lonnie.
NoGrumpys at 10:06 AM on 04/01/08
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Do old tranny's wear tranny granny panties?