http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-world.asp?parentid=55675

GERMANY: Gypsies fail to see the humour in Borat film

German group accuses actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen of 'inciting violence against Sinti and Roma gypsies' in his upcoming movie

The Age
Thursday, October 19, 2006

Berlin --- A German group representing gypsies says it is going to court to try to stop British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen from showing his latest film in Germany.

"We are accusing him of defamation and inciting violence against Sinti and Roma (gypsies)," said Marko Knudsen, head of the European Centre of Anti-ziganism Research (anti-ziganism refers to hostility to gypsies).

The group said it had filed a complaint with prosecutors over the film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, saying it treated violence and discrimination against Roma people as acceptable behaviour.

State prosecutors in Hamburg will investigate the allegations before deciding whether to act.

In the satirical film, due to open in Germany on November 2, Cohen, creator of the comic character Ali G, plays Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional Kazakh television journalist who travels to the US to report on the American way of life.

The film's comic barbs also target gypsies, Jews, women and many other groups.

The complaint adds to the protests against Cohen's creation, whose comedy character's views are racist, anti-Semitic, misogynist and homophobic.

Some of the most prominent criticism has come from Kazakhstan, Borat's central Asian homeland.

Mr Knudsen's group has asked for an injunction to stop the film from being shown in Germany.

"We called the distributors, but they laughed at us," he said.

Date Posted: 10/19/2006