Exit Ali G director, fearing for his life

Sacha's Borat - causing chaos
The Weekender

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Sacha Baron Cohen's hopes of taking Hollywood by storm have suffered a setback after the director of his first feature film quit in fear of his life.

American-born Todd Phillips had to flee a gun-toting mob during filming in the state of Virginia.

For his latest project, Baron Cohen, the creator of Ali G, appears as the tactless Kazakhstani TV reporter Borat.

The character was filmed at a rodeo in Salem, Virginia, where he praised President Bush's war on terror, saying: 'I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq . . . and may George W Bush drink their blood.'

He then performed the U.S. national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, replacing the song's patriotic last line 'and the home of the brave' with 'and your home is the grave'.

Failing to see the joke, angry locals in the audience began booing then fired shots in the air.

Rodeo organisers hurriedly escorted Baron Cohen away.

'If he'd been there one minute longer, I think someone would have shot him,' said local Robynn Jaymes.

Soon after the incident, several members of the production team received death threats, leading 34-year-old Phillips - who directed the recent Starksy and Hutch movie - to pull out.

'Todd is a big fan of Sacha's but he was afraid to be involved with a project that has the potential to cause a riot wherever he goes,' an associate of the producers said yesterday.

'He's fearful of being blackballed in Hollywood for directing a movie which is so anti-American in its humour. He's also afraid that some of the victims of Sacha's humour, especially in the Deep South, will act on the death threats they have made.'

This is not the first time Baron Cohen's unique humour has caused outrage in America.

The Cambridge-educated comedian-who is engaged to the Australian actress Isla Fisher, made headlines last year after he led a group of American square dancers in a rendition of a Kazakhstani folk song encouraging people to 'throw the Jew down the well, so my country can be free' in a segment for Channel 4's Da Ali G Show.

Baron Cohen, himself a Jew, responded to the criticism by saying: 'Irony always was lost on Americans.'

He was unavailable for comment last night.

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