00:00I had been developing Borat actually for the BBC and if the BBC are watching this now, they might actually
00:09sue me because it had a different name then and Borat was from Albania.
00:15So I want to apologize to the people of Kazakhstan for the first time ever because Borat has got nothing
00:22to do with Kazakhstan. Borat's nation changed continually dependent on which channel was paying for him.
00:31So I would just say, oh, that character's in the BBC. I've got a completely new character. This guy's called
00:39Alexey Crickler. He's from Moldovia.
00:41So it jumped around and then finally when we did it on HBO, I needed another place because HBO suddenly
00:48owned it and I was like, where is a place that no one knows anything about?
00:54Kazakhstan. So guys, Kazakhstan is out there. Maybe some of you have been sent here on a specific mission.
01:03I'm asking you to abort that mission. I mean no harm. I respect your people, your culture. Please do not
01:10take it personally.
01:12And in fact, when I first started doing Borat, there was a complaint, quite rightly, from the Kazakh embassy and
01:21I read it.
01:21And it was like, how dare you? I'm sorry, I'm going to, I'm going to do, and Kazakhstan is out
01:26there. I apologize. I cannot do your accent.
01:29I don't know your accent. You look nothing like Borat, right? I mean, it's next to Mongolia.
01:38Nothing like Borat, but I'm going to do Borat's accent because my knowledge of Central Asian accents is limited.
01:46So I will, please do not be offended, Kazakhstanis. I mean, nothing but respect.
01:54Dear Mr. Coen, why does your character have a moustache like this?
02:02Kazakhstanis do not have a moustache, etc., etc.
02:07And the reality was it had nothing to do with Kazakhstan and everything to do with the ignorance of the
02:13people I was speaking to
02:14who could believe these crazy things would happen in a place they'd never heard of.
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