Though Kanye West’s anti-semitic rants over the last few months have been problematic and harmful to many, some have been able to find the humor within these situations. Sacha Baron Cohen used his popular character Borat to provide people some comic relief as the 45-year-old continues to spiral.
The Jewish actor was present at the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday (Dec. 4) to pay homage to U2. The Guardian reported that in the midst of his speech, he brought up anti-semitism and addressed the Donda artist and former United States President Donald Trump.
“Before I proceed, I will say I am very upset about the anti-semitism in the US and A,” Cohen said, taking the form of his parodical Kazakh journalist alter go. “It not fair. Kazakhstan is number one Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby. Stop the steal! Stop the steal!” Some attendees, notably President Joe Biden and his first lady Jill, reportedly howled in laughter while others appeared uncomfortable.
“Your Kanye, he tried to move to Kazakhstan and even changed his name to Kazakhstanye West,” Borat continued. “But we said: ‘No, he too anti-semitic, even for us.’”
Borat comes from the 2006 eponymous mockumentary where the character travels throughout the United States and repeatedly makes disparaging comments about Jewish people.
Though the film was received well given Borat is played by a Jewish man, Ye’s commentary has had the opposite effect. The Chicago producer is currently serving a second suspension from Twitter in as many months, served by Elon Musk after the “Hurricane” rapper shared a photo of a swastika inside the Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish faith.
The tweet and subsequent Twitter ban followed the Grammy winner’s latest headline-grabbing interview on Alex Jones’ Infowars. During the conversation, Kanye doubled down on his love for Hitler and Nazis.