Within the span of 4 minutes, Sacha Baron Cohen hilariously scorched Kanye West, honored U2, dissed Donald Trump, made President Joe Biden chuckle and performed himself out on a keytar, all in character as his beloved Borat persona. All of it went down Dec. 4 on the 2022 Kennedy Middle Honors occasion, and on Thursday (Dec. 29), the humanities group shared a video of the second so that everybody who wasn’t in attendance can see — and chuckle — for themselves.
Within the video, Baron Cohen steps out onstage wearing Borat’s signature swimsuit and bushy mustache, greeting a crowd that additionally included honorees George Clooney, Amy Grant and Gladys Knight. The comic — who’s Jewish — was there to assist have a good time U2, additionally one of many night time’s honorees, but it surely didn’t take lengthy for him to get topical along with his speech.
“I have to say I’m very upset concerning the antisemitism in U.S. and A,” he mentioned. “It’s not truthful. Kazakhstan is No. 1 Jew-crushing nation. Cease stealing our pastime!”
After all, antisemitism has been thrust into the middle of public dialogue previously couple months thanks specifically to Kanye West (who now goes by Ye). The rapper has been banned by a number of social media platforms and has been dropped from his offers with main manufacturers — dropping his billionaire standing within the course of — due to his repeated use of hate speech on-line and in interviews attacking Jewish folks.
“Your Kanye, he tried to maneuver to Kazakhstan and he even modified his identify to Kazakhstan-ye West,” Baron Cohen continued, his Borat character a fictional journalist from the actual nation Kazakhstan. “We mentioned no, he too antisemitic even for us.”
Baron Cohen additionally saved slightly warmth for the fellows of U2, making a dig at their notorious partnership with Apple that concerned the band’s 2014 album, Songs of Innocence, being mechanically downloaded onto iTunes customers’ private units, angering many. He additionally carried out his personal Borat-ified cowl of one of many band’s greatest hits, “With or With out You,” incomes uncomfortable laughs from the viewers by changing the phrase “you” with “Jews.”
“What the issue? They cherished this at Mar-a-Lago,” he quipped, referencing Donald Trump’s present residence earlier than performing a spirited solo on his keytar.
Watch Borat’s Kennedy Middle Honors speech above. Wish to take a look at all the occasion? Right here’s how one can stream it.
