Borat: Sacha Baron Cohen-An Olddate

Sorry, but I cannot manufacture Borat updates when there is nothing new. To quench the thirst of those in need, let's have an 'olddate' and go back to a New Yorker article from September 20, 2004.  Talk of the Town decided to check with Kazakhstan officials to verify the assertions of that country's foremost journalist Borat. 

It turned out falsehoods, and many others, have been spread by Borat,:

Roman Vassilenko, the press secretary for the Embassy of Kazakhstan, wants to clear up a few misconceptions about his country. Women are not kept in cages. The national sport is not shooting a dog and then having a party. You cannot earn a living being a Gypsy catcher. Wine is not made from fermented horse urine. It is not customary for a man to grab another man’s khrum. “Khrum” is not the word for testicles.

Like you , I was disappointed to learn that Borat , at times, was less than reliable.  However:

Travel guides mention a Kazakh sport called kokpar, a precursor of polo. When Vassilenko was asked about it, he hesitated, then explained, “That’s the one where a goat, a dead goat”—a headless dead goat—“is, um, being held as a sort of a prize. And then one rider has it, and he has to run away with it from others who seek to catch it and snatch it from him.” And then they have a party.

On the American Journalism Scorecard for Accuracy in Reporting:

Borat 62%

Ann Coulter 19%  (She is a good speller.)