Borat Sings the National Anthem

Riot nearly breaks out in Roanoake

For those of you who do not watch the Ali G Show or have even heard of it, Ali G is a fictional character that while often times offensive, is downright hilarious.

Well, to some folks anyway.

According to a report in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times, a man who was introduced as Borat Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan – in reality a Cohen character named Borat – appeared at the rodeo over the weekend after organisers agreed to have him sing the national anthem.

After telling the crowd he supported America’s war on terrorism, he said, ‘I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards … And may George W Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq.’ He then sang a garbled version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’

The Roanoke Times reported that the crowd turned ‘downright nasty.’ One observer said ‘If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him.’

Cohen and his film crew were escorted out of the Salem Civic Center and told to leave the premises.

‘Had we not gotten them out of there, there would have been a riot,’ rodeo producer Bobby Rowe told the paper. ‘They loaded up the van and they screeched out of there.’

Come on folks! This is hilarious stuff!

Well, okay. . . maybe it’s funny after the fact. Actually, the very idea of a rodeo crowd rioting a la South Park is fairly amusing in it’s own right.