We Are Not Your Joke

Critique of Sacha Baron Cohen's representation of minority/marginalized groups and its negative effects on their safety and dignity
#WeAreNotYourJoke

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Look at them. They created a lasting tool of bigotry. #Borat berates and bullies #Kazakhstan, a nation in Central Asia made up of people of color

Is racial abuse of #Kazakh minority the last refuge of #racism in Hollywood?

#WeAreNotYourJoke #NoAwardForBorat #CancelBorat #Borat2

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

As @SachaBaronCohen's humor is weaponized by racists & sexists, #Kazakh women bear the brunt of #Borat jokes. While claiming to expose bigots, Cohen also empowers them to ridicule & attack women of color.

#WeAreNotYourJoke #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #StandAgainstHatred

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

In 2006, @JohnTierneyNYC argued that backward #Kazakh stereotype in #Borat makes Westerners feel superior to them, which, in turn, leads to new forms of imperialism over #Kazakhstan & other developing countries.

https://t.co/5Kk5ALfz1I

#WeAreNotYourJoke #StopHateForProfit

[Nomad of the Universe @lolaaskar]

Dear Neal Brannon, loved your second (and first) Netflix special, quick favour - please don’t call Borat a legend, it is in fact a hugely racist film derogatory to Central Asians. Many white folks are not aware of this, does not mean it’s ok.

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Writer @Aatif_Rashid was baffled as to how so many people failed to recognize #Borat as an obvious Orientalist #brownface that portrays #Kazakh people as anti-Semitic bigots.

#WeAreNotYourJoke #NoAwardForBorat #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #Borat2 #SachaBaronCohen #VeryNice

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Culture reporter @PJGrisar argued that #Borat2's defamation of #Kazakh WW2 history undermines @SachaBaronCohen's role as an anti-misinformation champion.

Read his article on @JDForward: https://t.co/NGScDnrnDr

#WeAreNotYourJoke #NoAwardForBorat #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Very happy for #SacheenLittlefeather!

How long do you think will it take @TheAcademy, @GoldenGlobes, and other organizations to apologize to #Kazakhstan for nominating & awarding the racist caricature of #Borat?
https://t.co/u1iNlr6BpS

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

In his 2017 doc, @HariKondabolu denounced @TheSimpsons character as a racist caricature of S.Asians. 3+ years later, @HankAzaria apologized for voicing Apu.

How long do you think it would take @SachaBaronCohen to apologize to people of #Kazakhstan for #Borat?

#WeAreNotYourJoke

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Political writer @BrandonTensley commented on how #Borat used #Kazakhstan as a prop and then discarded it, leaving the country to deal with the racist ignorance it created:
https://t.co/gcEcFSn2VU

#WeAreNotYourJoke #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #StandAgainstHatred #Borat2

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Now more than ever, #Kazakh people around the world feel how commercialization of their identity in #Borat leads to dehumanization of #Kazakhstan as a whole

#WeAreNotYourJoke #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #StandAgainstHatred #StopAsianHate #Borat2 #PrayforKazakhstan

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Political scientist & author @IanBremmer has no doubts that, when it comes to #Kazakh people, @SachaBaronCohen comedy is "punching down".

#WeAreNotYourJoke #NoAwardForBorat #Borat #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #StandAgainstHatred #ҚазақМазақЕмес #Borat #Borat2 #Kazakhstan

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

#Kazakh animator and illustrator Ermina Takenova found numerous #Borat jokes at the comment section under a post about the tragedy in #Kazakhstan dehumanizing.

#WeAreNotYourJoke #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #StopAsianHate #Borat2 #ҚазақМазақЕмес #Qazaq #қазақ #казах

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

#WeAreNotYourJoke #borat

[Gia Noortas | Гауhар Нұртас @GiaNoortas]

Don’t tell me what to feel every time someone reference #borat when I say I’m #Kazakh
#WeAreNotYourJoke ⁦@MTV⁩ ⁦@PrimeVideo⁩ ⁦@SachaBaronCohen⁩ https://t.co/ceeajBZQiT

[Gia Noortas | Гауhар Нұртас @GiaNoortas]

Unbelievable #hypocrisy. @PrimeVideo and @SachaBaronCohen created this myth that #borat is their fight for democracy but truth always comes out. Some day soon the world will stand for ethnic Kazakh people. #racism and #whitewashing is NOT OKAY. #WeAreNotYourJoke

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

@goldenglobes @SachaBaronCohen @MariaBakalova96 take a note. #WeAreNotYourJoke

[Nomad of the Universe @lolaaskar]

HFPA not having any black folks as members explains how racist #borat2 got an award. Black journalists @brandontensley @micha_fraze @jasonosamede were among first to call out @sachabaroncohen for racism @Dorothy4NABJ @NABJ @akstanwyck
https://t.co/xNaXrT9av8… #WeAreNotYourJoke

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

@PrimeVideo @goldenglobes #WeAreNotYourJoke

[Nomad of the Universe @lolaaskar]

@TIMESUPNOW Yes. Unlike @PrimeVideo who paid $80m to @sachabaroncohen for #borat2 extremely racist to indigenous Central Asians, heavily promoted it and are now trying to look like they back diversity #WeAreNotYourJoke

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

@goldenglobes #WeAreNotYourJoke

[Nomad of the Universe @lolaaskar]

@TIMESUPNOW @goldenglobes @NBCUniversal @dickclarkprod 👏Last year 13 #WeAreNotYourJoke organisations wrote to @goldenglobes calling not to award #borat2 racist to indigenous Central Asians. Now I understand why they ignored us & became the only film award organisation to do it anyway - they share in @sachabaroncohen's racist values

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Artist @jywarren discussed how #Borat is a word forged in erasure, humiliation, and hate of #Kazakh people.

Read his essay: https://t.co/xLyYqgCZKc

#WeAreNotYourJoke #NoAwardForBorat #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit #StandAgainstHatred #StopAsianHate #Borat2 #SachaBaronCohen

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Kazakh writer and translator on how being mockingly called a “borat” triggered childhood memories of ethnic & racial slurs she heard growing up under Soviet regime

Read her article here: https://t.co/qRby6e2AcM

#WeAreNotYourJoke #NoAwardForBorat #CancelBorat #StopHateForProfit

[We Are Not Your Joke @WereNotYourJoke]

Thank you, @jywarren! #StopAsianHate #WeAreNotYourJoke

[Jeffrey 유 Yoo Warren @jywarren]

I've been feeling truly sick about the racist depictions of Central Asians in the Borat films, and I felt the need to write about it. #antiAsianhate

https://t.co/LF8oYFvRTL

[Gia Noortas | Гауhар Нұртас @GiaNoortas]

Here is one of many examples of how damaging #borat is for #kazakh ethnic community in the West. Each and every one of us had felt the harmful impact of the borat stereotype that has nothing to do with our indigenous nation and its proud culture. #whitewashing #racism