British actor Sacha Baron Cohen, dressed in his character "Borat" poses for the press near the Eiffel tower in Paris, in this, Oct. 9, 2006, file photo. Cohen tells The Daily Telegraph that he's retiring the clueless Kazakh journalist, as well as his alter ego, aspiring rapper Ali G. "When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing," the 36-year-old actor-comedian says in the British newspaper's edition on Friday, Dec. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, file)
Report: Baron Cohen Offing Borat, Ali G
NEW YORK (AP) — Borat is dead. Sacha Baron Cohen tells The Daily Telegraph that he's retiring the clueless Kazakh journalist, as well as his alter ego, aspiring rapper Ali G.
"When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing," the 36-year-old actor-comedian says in the British newspaper's Friday edition.
"It is like saying goodbye to a loved one. It is hard, and the problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I `get' with Borat again, so it's a kind of self-defeating form, really."
Baron Cohen brought Borat Sagdiyev — an anti-Semitic buffoon in search of Pamela Anderson — to the masses last year with his smash comedy, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." He first introduced the character on "Da Ali G Show," which was carried in the U.S. on HBO.
"It's much easier for me to be in character and it's a lot more fun," he says. "If I'd done the entire promotional campaign for (the `Borat' movie) as myself it wouldn't have developed in the same way."
Baron Cohen — not Borat — can be seen as a singing barber in Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd," co-starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
His spokesman, Matt Labov, did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages by The Associated Press seeking comment on the "deaths" of Borat and Ali G.
Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat.
Sacha Baron Cohen, the British actor and comedian known for his characters Borat Sagdiyev and Ali G, told Britain's ''Daily Telegraph'' on Friday that he was officially retiring both aforementioned characters. The reason for this, he said, is because of the public becoming too knowledgeable of him and his alter egos.

"It is hard, and the problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I 'get' with Borat again, so it's a kind of self-defeating form, really," Cohen stated.

Borat Sagdiyev is a fictional character who is a Kazakhstani journalist with anti-Semitic and misogynist viewpoints, and Ali G is a "gangsta" from the "Staines ghetto".

When posing as Borat or Ali G, Cohen would conduct interviews with unsuspecting people who believed that the interviews and the character were genuine. He would ask questions designed to make the interviewee look foolish or ignorant. He has showcased this method in the television program ''Da Ali G Show'' and the faux-documentary ''Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Cohen generated much controversy from the nation of Kazakhstan, who claimed that Borat portrayed a negative image of the country's people. He also garnered lawsuits from the unknowing participants of his act. 

Cohen's third persona, a gay Austrian reporter named Bruno, is slated to appear in a 2008 film.