Borat Gets the Boot in Russia

Although the box office has been very kind to Borat, some feel the film might be a little too controversial and have subsequently banned it from playing in their country. That's right, I'm talking about Russia -- home to the cold, the snow, those big furry hats and tasty vodka. Pic was supposed to debut on November 30 through local distributor Gemini, who are linked to 20th Century Fox. However, the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography refuses to license the flick because it "contains material that some viewers may consider offensive to certain nationalities and religions."

The best part of this whole thing is that Borat would be the first non-pornographic film to be banned in the country. In fact, plenty of hardcore porn films are licensed by the agency each year. Wait, so Russian midget orgies are less offensive than Sacha Baron Cohen pretending to be a moronic Kazakhstani news reporter? Something is not right here. It's not like he's running around Russia making a fool out of the locals. No, he's making a fool out of Americans -- other countries should be itching to release this thing in their theaters. Isn't it sad that a country is so afraid its people do not have a sense of humor that they're going so far as to ban a comedy because stupid people might not get the jokes?