Sacha Baron Cohen reprised his famed character as part of a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to the band U2 on December 4. Cohen-as-Borat slammed Grammy winner West during his speech, saying the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. rivals that of the fictional “Jew-crushing nation” Kazakhstan, Borat’s home country. “Before I proceed, I will say I am very upset about the antisemitism in US and A,” Borat said (via The Guardian). “It not fair. Kazakhstan is No. 1 Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby. Stop the steal! Stop the steal!” Borat continued, “Your Kanye, he tried to move to Kazakhstan and even changed his name to Kazakhstanye West. But we said: No, he too antisemitic, even for us.” Borat sang a parody version of U2’s “With or Without You,” changing the lyrics of the chorus to “with or without Jews.”
He added, “What’s the problem? They loved this at [Trump’s] Mar-a-Lago. They chose Without Jews.”
Related Julia Fox Says Whirlwind Kanye West Romance Hurt Her Acting Career Quentin Tarantino Refutes Kanye West ‘Django’ Claims: ‘That Didn’t Happen’ Related Oscars 2023: Best Original Song Predictions Oscars 2023: Best Documentary Feature Predictions
Rapper and fashion designer West was dropped by Adidas, Balenciaga, Vogue, and agency CAA. He recently canceled his Gap deal. Financiers at MRC have since shelved the completed documentary “Ye.” The “Gold Digger” singer was also suspended from Twitter, with Elon Musk telling West, “sorry, but you have gone too far, this is not love” after West shared a photo of a swastika superimposed over the Star of David. West previously tweeted it was time to go “death con 3 on Jewish People.”
“The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because Black people are actually Jews,” West wrote. “Also you guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.”
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel slammed West earlier this year following West’s appearance on QAnon conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ “Infowars.”
“I haven’t seen anything like this,” Kimmel said. “We have a Black white supremacist running around… Let’s imagine this was another pop star. Imagine if it was Ariana Grande saying this stuff. We’d load her into a cannon and fire her into the ocean, right? But Kanye seems to get crazier every day, and he still has fans. And you know an interview’s gone off the rails when you’re watching it thinking, ‘Gee, I hope Alex Jones can talk some sense into this guy.’”
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
