Sacha Baron Cohen has offered to pay the fines of the six stag revelers who were arrested in Kazakhstan for wearing ‘Borat’-inspired mankinis out in public.
The 46-year-old actor – who made the skimpy male swimsuit famous when he wore it to play his character Borat, a fictional Kazakh TV presenter, in the mockumentary film of the same name in 2006 – has agreed to fork out almost $400 for the Czech tourists who were detained after they posed for a photo in their "indecent" attires.
Taking to his Facebook account, Sacha said: "To my Czech mates who were arrested. Send me your details and proof that it was you, and I’ll pay your fine."
The hit movie, ‘Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’, was banned in Kazakhstan after authorities accused it of portraying the country as primitive and racist.
However, the foreign minister later thanked the comedian for boosting tourism as they’ve seen a rise in visa applications ever since it was released in 2006.
Sacha previously stated he will never again portray the controversial alter ego again because he fears for the safety of himself and his family – wife Isla Fisher, 39, and three children, daughters Olive, 10, and Elula, seven and son Montgomery, two – as he made his films and TV shows on the premise they he was a real person and his madcap antics can have seriously dangerous consequences.
Discussing about his mockumentary films ‘Borat! and ‘Bruno’ – in which he played a flamboyant Austrian fashion journalist – Sacha said: "I miss those roles but cannot do them as I have responsibility for my family. Being in a wild situation when you’re deep in character, and nobody realizing you’re not real – that’s the ultimate adrenaline. But I’m too old for it – and you start feeling irresponsible when you have a family. I always received death threats, but they increased after ‘Bruno’."