Borat creator Sacha Baron Cohen has offered to pay fines incurred by six Czech tourists arrested in Kazakhstan for wearing the character’s famous ‘mankini’ costume.
The group of sightseers were reportedly fined $67 (£51) earlier this month (Nov17) after taking photographs of themselves dressing up in the revealing one-piece swimsuit worn by Baron Cohen’s hapless Kazakh documentary maker in his hit 2006 film.
After reading about their arrest, the actor and comedian wrote in a post on his Facebook page, “To my Czech mates who were arrested. Send me your details and proof that it was you, and I’ll pay your fine.”
Also included in the post was a link to a BBC report on the Czech tourists’ arrests and an email address, “arrestedforwearingyourmankini@gmail.com”.
The Czech party, who were in the Kazakh capital of Astana, were reportedly detained for their “indecent” appearance.
Baron Cohen’s film, which had the full title, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, followed Kazakh news reporter Borat Sagdiyev’s attempt to make a documentary on his travels in America.
It was a global hit, earning $261.6 million at the box office, but was initially less well received by government officials in Kazakhstan as the film depicted its people as backward.
However in 2012, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov credited the movie with sparking a huge increase in tourist visits to his nation.
