Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat character stole the show at the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday night as he took aim at rapper Kanye “Ye” West after his antisemitic comments cast a shadow over a dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
“Before I proceed, I will say I am very upset about the antisemitism in US and A. It not fair. Kazakhstan is No. 1 Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby. Stop the steal. Stop the steal,” Cohen’s iconic character exclaimed to an audience that included U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden.
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Cohen’s appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony followed Trump dining on Nov. 22 with West, who has espoused antisemitic views, and Nick Fuentes, a prominent Holocaust denier. That was followed by West appearing on Alex Jones’ Infowars in a segment where the rapper continued to make antisemitic statements and expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler.
“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,’” Cohen’s comedy skit continued.
The Borat character also paid tribute to U2 by referring to the pop group as Me Too, and then sang a short parody of the song “With or Without You,” with the lyrics changed to “With or without Jews.”
Cohen’s character then questioned in response to a mixed reception from the audience: “What’s the problem? They loved this at Mar-a-Lago. They chose ‘Without Jews.’”
In the wake of his latest antisemitic tirades, it was announced that West would no longer acquire Parler, the Conservative social media site. Parlement Technologies first announced in October that it had reached an agreement for the rapper to buy the company.
