Sasha Baron Cohen comes to rescue tourists wearing Borat mankini in Kazakhstan

Six Czech tourists who dressed up in skimpy swimsuits made famous by Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” were reportedly detained by authorities in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.

Sporting lime green “mankinis” and black wigs, the men had hoped to take a picture in front of the “I Love Astana” sign.

But local police took action, detaining them on Friday and fining them 22,500 tenge ($68) each for committing minor hooliganism, according to the Kazakh news website informburo.kz.

When Baron Cohen got to know of this news, he posted on his Facebook:

Baron Cohen, playing the fictional Kazakh television presenter Borat, sported the swimsuit in the 2006 movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”

That film offended many Kazakhs by portraying the country as backward and degenerate. Kazakhstan threatened to sue Baron Cohen and quickly banned the DVD.

However, in 2012, Kazakh foreign minister, Yerzhan Kazykhanov publicly thanked Baron Cohen for boosting tourism to the country.