How Sasha Baron Cohen brought Bruno to Arkansas

What happened

Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen is believed to have duped thousands of fighting fans in Arkansas, who showed up for events promising “hardcore fights,” “hot chicks,” and one-dollar beers, but left enraged when the matches ended with two male wrestlers tearing off each other’s clothes and kissing. The stunts were apparently filmed for Cohen’s new movie Bruno, which centers on a gay Austrian journalist. (The Smoking Gun)

What the commentators said

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Imagine being one of those unsuspecting fighters, said Shawn Lindseth on Hecklerspray. You spend all day "polishing your finest brass knuckles" and practicing "knee kicks on your wooden karate thingy," but when you finally get in the ring, your opponent “licks your neck” and “tells you there are flowers from him back in your locker.” Brilliant.

Cohen better enjoy this while it lasts, said the Israelity blog. He became so famous from Borat that he had to retire that character—everyone knew who he was, so he “could no longer get away with his antics.” How much longer can Cohen really pull off these Bruno stunts?

You might be surprised, said Ada Calhoun on AOL's News Bloggers. Cohen’s not just fooling crowds of wrestling fans. As his Bruno character, Cohen even duped Yossi Alpher, a political analyst and former spy in Israel. "You'd think a spy would at least do a quick Google search before he agreed to a taped interview and signed a release?"