'Bruno' Enrages LA Schools Chief

LOS ANGELES — The chief of the nation's second-largest school district is fuming over comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's magazine photo shoot with high school football players.

Los Angeles Superintendent Ramon Cortines isn't amused by the GQ magazine photos shot at Birmingham High School that feature the "Borat" star in his new incarnation as gay Austrian fashionista "Bruno."

The GQ cover story features pictures of Baron Cohen wearing shoulder pads, tight red shorts, an athletic cup and little else as he poses with football players at the school in the San Fernando Valley.

Cortines says the district "allowed our students to be used." He says the photos violate the district's policy on use of the school's name, and he has punished the principal and athletic director. Cortines would not provide details.

Comments

[ChinoCharles]

20 years ago this guy would have faced charges for a stunt like this. Its adult humor. Leave the kids out of it. I'm with Cortines. He did the right thing.

[trappedinaredstate]

How is this adult humor? Bruno is standing next to football players while wearing skimpy shorts and shoulder pads holding a ball. The players are fully dressed and not touching him. He's not dry-humping them or fondling them and there are no 'naughty bits' showing on anyone - not even Bruno's nipples.

If you look at this photo and see anything adult about it you must have a serious case of hangups.

[nanorich]

Twenty years ago, nobody would have cared.

Twenty years later, LA sees that its new District Supervisor is a jerk.

[Blueline]

Charges for what?

[cloudmaker]

Cohen is the class clown. And he's making money at it. More power to him. But being outrageous
isn't being witty, and ridiculing others doesn't take genius. All a relatively good comedian needs
to be like this sad comic is a cruel streak disguised as deflating hyprocrisy.

[infodoc1]

People who don't get Cohen's humor should stick to watching Lost or 24 or whatever garbage they consider entertaining.

[cloudmaker]

So, basically, anyone who doesn't share your idea of what's humor is watching garbage?
Don't you see anything odd in that kind of thinking?

[knosiswar]

'24' and FOX news will rot your brain. It's not an opinion, it's a fact.

[uglygnome]

There's nothing to "get"

[jasonsabio]

There's nothing to get... if you don't get it.

[aftershock]

Lost is if not the, one of the, greatest TV dramas EVER. Back off! Lol. Cohen's funny too though.

[Goefel]

I think people might realize this time around that he is a misanthrope who is really laughing at the audience and making the suckers laugh. His routine is gaining a nasty streak as he goes after politicians who disagree with his views. Added, some of the gags are believed to be staged.
People call his humor brilliant It is also said he is making a unique critique on society. What a joke...

[JackNasty]

Sasha Baron Cohen uses outrageous stereotypes to goad sanctimonious, genteel and self-censoring big ots into exposing their inner big ots to the camera for all to see. .

I can see how that would offend some big ots.

[AJBF]

LOL! Perfect.

[Iraqnophobia]

a gay man wearing sexually suggestive outfits around underage kids is not what Id think most people would defend, but then Im not a lefty.

[escobar]

I just cannot find someone acting out a gay stereotype being rude is automatically funny.That's really old but it may be fun to watch him act out.
I think someone like Paul Rubin's Pee Wee Herman character was far more imaginitive. Now most of the cool clowns are cartoons it seems.Pee Wee was sort of both.
Cohen is is trying to be funy, so I think he deserves credit for that.
I think the character was used up before he took it on.
I wish he'd come up with something new.
There sure is a lot of money being spent promoting him as a cool new clown.
What is so shocking or funny about a flamboyant gay man making a spectacle of himself ?The character is too easy to construct. A full hour of it? Martin Short played "Frank" in Father of the Bride but the character never tried to shock anyone and it was a minor part. The gayness of the character was not why he was funny either.IT was what he was doing to Dad's wallet.
I guess if one has the mentality of a pubescent boy who has yet to realize there are gay people all around him, the character would automatically make them giggle.
The stereotypical character is rather odd in this age of acceptance of openly gay people.

[deluk]

"the mentality of a pubescent boy"... Yup, thats me.

[Ping]

Not wasting my money on this one either.

[JeffMilwaukee]

For the love of all things holy, will this site PLEASE stop flogging this lame movie. Every day there's another "news" story about another "outrageous" stunt by Cohen. Either label these articles as paid advertisements or stop running them.

[cranialknowledge]

I've got to agree with you here. Huffington Post loses a lot of credibility when the do the sorts of things like this, promoting a movie, by posting a ton of articles. What was the fee?

[Eriq]

"Cortines."
Yes, folks, there we have it. Another back-water latinoamericano with his ultra-conservative "values." Yup, go ahead and criticize me, do-gooders. I'm the REAL thing: Spanish. The latinoamericanos have LONG been allowed to push around their ultra-conservative ways in the U.S., and now you're going to see even more of this moralistic, prudish thinking.
Too bad.

[OGoodGrief]

Makes you wonder about Sonia Sotomayor, doesn't it? She just might be another David Souter.

[missviv]

You HAVE to be joking. Please, you HAVE to.

[Paulo1]

One of the first funny things the man has done and some idiot is offended.

High school football needs way more humor, it takes itself too seriously. Plus it was a nice jab at the perceived homophobia in high school sports.

Untie the nighties Ramon they seem to be in a bit of a knot.

[MGarin]

And the Birmingham High School football team is now in a major magazine and is being talked about on the Huffington Post..


That bastard!

[HoldenLitgo]

If anyone's being "used" it's the people of Los Angeles who pay school tax. Cortine should be outraged that these football players can't read this article to see how lame he is.

[lkern]

Lighten up.

[therblig]

correct response.

[AKAM80THEWOLF]

I read that as "Bruno Engorges LA Schools Chief"

I guess you know where my mind is.

[MNJim]

Your interpretation would be more interesting than this lame article.....LOL!

[ChumpChicken]

BRUNO IS FREAKING LAME!!

Borat was the absolute worst movie I have ever seen, so bad in fact, that I HAD to leave the theater.

And now that is is coming out with another movie just shows how American culture continues to degrade !!

[armadillo]

Obviously edgy comedy is not your thing. The man is brilliant. A bit over the top but still brilliant.

[wjousts]

"American culture continues to degrade"

You know he's English right?

[Hayduke1969]

Mr. Chicken, it is satire. Cohen is an English jester who uses satire to entertain and challange our view of things.

Seriously, the degradation of our culture is more accute on the right, among the fanatical religious groups whose minds are all poisoned by right wing hate and the blathering fear-mongering political infotainment industry.

[erikh]

Wow, you aren't too clever, are you? The whole point of Borat was that it was a satire on how American culture and knowledge and awareness has degraded. Yikes.

[arpaul]

Lighten up, Ramon.