Bruno's Prank: Arkansas Cage Fights Turn Gay, Crowd Goes Crazy

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Crowds in Arkansas came for the lure of cage fighting and $1 beer, but police say what they got instead was men ripping each others' clothes off and kissing _ a stunt suspected of being orchestrated by Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame.

"We had a contract for cage fighting. We were deceived," said Dwight Duncan, president and CEO of Four States Fair Grounds in Texarkana, where the first of two Arkansas fights raised suspicions last month.

Matt Labov, a Los Angeles-based publicist for Baron Cohen, said he had no comment Monday about the faked fights. One of Baron Cohen's movies is due out next year.

The day after the June 5 Texarkana bout, Fort Smith's convention center hosted "Blue Collar Brawlin.'" Fort Smith police Sgt. Adam Holland said organizers told him a character named "Straight Dave" would goad a planted audience member into the ring for a fight.

The two men would then wrestle, rip away some of their clothes and share a brief kiss reminiscent of one between Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell in the film "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

Producers said "there would be a romantic embrace," Holland said. "They said it was kind of to essentially make fun, poke fun at wrestling _ two guys rolling around on the floor, all sweaty."

An elaborate array of mounted and handheld video cameras caught the crowd of 1,600's reaction as the two men "went right up to the line" of the city's morality laws, Holland said. The two men stripped down to their underwear, kissed and rubbed on each other, the sergeant said.

The audience, as well as local fighters drawn to take part in the show, became enraged. "It set the crowd off lobbing beers," Holland said. "They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually."

Holland said it took officers about 45 minutes to clear the convention center, as the two actors sprinted away through a specially set-aside tunnel.

Those in attendance were told by several signs on display that they'd be filmed, Holland said, and signed waivers before the event. Convention center sales director Karin Hobbs declined to name the event's sponsor Monday.

Baron Cohen became a national celebrity after his 2006 hit movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," in which he played a bumbling reporter from the Central Asia nation.

News of the faked cage fights comes as Baron Cohen is in production of a movie titled "Bruno," named after the gay Austrian fashion reporter he developed for "Da Ali G Show." Baron Cohen, in the guise of Bruno, often interviewed hapless subjects in the South.

If the cage match visits came from Baron Cohen, it wouldn't be the first time Arkansas fell for a practical joke. In 2000, then-Gov. Mike Huckabee fell for a prank and congratulated Canada for preserving its icebound Parliament, calling it a "national igloo."

Comments

[charlot]

Well, I (a gay man) can only speak for myself, of course, but I find this mostly hilarious (with a touch of amazement--but not too much--over the outright hostility). It just helps prove my theory that the South seems to have a disproportionate share of the nation's doofuses who not only will pay to see anything sophomoric, loud and/or violent, but also that they are incredibly easy to fool.
Go ahead and call me an elitist northerner. But come on: can you imagine anything like this even selling tickets north of the Mason-Dixon line? What a bunch of stooges.
I have been to the South many, many times, and more often than not, I wish I had a body guard or two.

[hartkid]

hahaha. those stupid hillbillies and their homophobia. In the northern states we are much more sophisticated. these hooples make me want to ROTF and LMAO. HAHAHA! In my northern-state town nothing like that would happen. We would celebrate it because we're not bigots. In fact, recently while attending a chess match in the northern city in which I live, the two chess players removed their outerwear and began to rub against each other in a very suggestive way, one grinding his underpants against the others while deep kissing and nipple sucking. I enjoy chess, as do my pre-teen children. I find all wargames interesting, in fact, including some displays of martial arts, even when just mocked up for high-flying excitement. So my kids and I were off to the chess match together. We soon discovered no chess, but instead a graphic, homo-erotic performance piece. Being from the northern part of the country, where we are not rubes or bigots, I found the display to be just fine. In fact I applauded and gave a jaunty cheer. I also forced my children to applaud as well. The chess game was abandoned and the "players" were spirited away through a tunnel, the turgid flesh bouncing up and down as they bounded away. Oh well, it was only a five dollar cover charge for each of us to get in and we all learned a valuable lesson, which was: When will those ignorant hillbillies ever learn?

[DangerWillRobinson]

What's a hoople?

[charlot]

Loved the sarcasm (I'm a died-in-the-wool smartass, myself), but I stand by what I said. I am not saying, or even implying, that everyone in the South is an idiotic bigot and there are no idiotic bigots in the North. I'm just saying that there is a disproportionate number of them down there. Believe me, I know whereof I speak: my mother lives in bible-thumping redneck country in northeast Florida, and that is one scary place--full of mega-churches, confederate flags and toothless hicks who would gladly beat the sh*t out of anyone who didn't wear their Christianity on their sleeve and regularly attend NASCAR and monster truck rallies.
And look how many comments there are following this post, from people who live and/or were raised in the South, who would concur with my statements in a heartbeat.

[tucsonarizona1]

We soon discovered no cage-fighting, but instead a graphic, homo-erotic performance piece.

[nuglet304]

fantastic!!

[lylo]

I know a guy who LOVES wrestling, and is "absolutely the least gay guy I know" (in his own words). It makes me think of him. lol :D

[missviv]

Sacha Baron Cohan, you bloody GENIUS!

[hiplib]

That is hilarious, one of the best stunts I have ever heard of! Congrats Sacha, this country needs you!

[Bystander]

Enraged onlookers were luck they were not counterattacked with purses and feather boas. You go girls!

[walk0nwalls]

OMG hilarity.

[repearwo]

Maybe if they would educate them boys down there in Arkansas they would not be so easily duped.

Sport is legend for its homo-erotic nature. Slap on the butt in the locker room. Hot sweatly bodys clashing up against each other. Golf and BaseBall are the least homo-erotic but then in baseball there are those cups.

I don't see the problem, we just need to admit that men are sexual beings and while they might be attracted to women, right time, right place a man will do just about anything sexual.

[icemilkcoffee]

Anyone has a video of this anywhere? THis is too funny!

[trollsbwild]

It must be really disappointing to expect violence, perhaps death, and then see that!

Wish I were there. The crowd reaction must have been a fall down laughing moment.

[MagisterLudi]

Eh, frankly I would find either gay or straight version of wrestling an unappetizing sight.
But Anything Cohen does is OK by me.
Keep on being Fabulous and you can take all the walks on the brown side you want.

[MagisterLudi]

Spitze, Bruno.
Now if you can only put a stunt on our resident Austrian A''nold Schwarzenegger!!!

Now THAT would be somethin'

Alles klar, Herr Kommissar?!

[McPander]

This is very funny. I'm from Fort Smith and the local news has not said a word about this.

[SkuddGobang]

Not really sure that this gay character of Borat-ilk is really going to do much other than give straight guys MORE ammunition to use against gay guys. Playing a lisping, mincing, shallow, stupid and annoying gay guy isn't really helping much other than showing gay people what we already know... most of the world hates us.

[walk0nwalls]

Move to california where we don't give a damn if you're gay.

[smitallica]

As with Borat, I think the point of the Bruno character is to make the haters look stupid, not the people being hated.
Homophobes don't need Bruno to give them any more reasons to hate. Their ignorance and fear are all the reasons they need.

Courage.

[MKJeeves]

Baron Cohen cruisin' for a bruisin' . . . again! Too much!