So, you’re scrolling through YouTube or stumbling across a TikTok clip and you see it. Borat. Gray suit, bushy mustache, and that "great success" energy, sitting on a real news set. Not a movie set. A real, live, local news broadcast with the "News 16" logo in the corner. You start wondering if it’s one of those deepfakes or maybe just a deleted scene with actors. Honestly, I get it. The sheer awkwardness makes it feel impossible that a professional news team would let this happen.
But here’s the thing: it actually happened. Was Borat really on the news 16? Yes. Very much so. It wasn't a skit with paid actors in the chairs. It was a genuine live television segment that went off the rails in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Day Borat Pranked WAPT Channel 16
Back in 2005, before the first movie became a global phenomenon, Sacha Baron Cohen was basically a ghost to most of mainstream America. Sure, Da Ali G Show had a following on HBO, but local news producers in Mississippi weren't exactly binging edgy British satire.
The station was WAPT-Channel 16. The anchors were Brad McMullan and Marla Thompson.
The pitch was simple. A "journalist" from Kazakhstan named Borat Sagdiyev was traveling through the South to learn about American culture for a documentary. A production company called One America Productions—which, turns out, was a front for the movie—reached out to the station. They had a professional-looking website. They sounded legit.
The news team did their "homework," or at least what passed for it. They saw a guy with a camera crew and a foreign accent and figured, "Hey, this is a quirky human interest story for the morning slot."
What Went Down on Live TV
It started "normal" enough. Well, as normal as Borat gets. He walked onto the set and immediately started doing that thing where he over-enthusiastically greets everyone. He kissed the male anchor, Brad McMullan, on both cheeks.
Then the interview started.
It was a slow-motion car crash. Borat started talking about how he was excited to be in "The US and A." He made bizarre comments about his sister being the "number four prostitute in all of Kazakhstan." He talked about his village’s "Running of the Jew" festival.
You can watch the footage and see the exact moment the anchors' brains start to short-circuit. They’re professionals. They’re trying to be polite. They’re trying to keep the "interview" on track while this guy says increasingly unhinged things.
Was It All a Scripted Act?
People always ask if the News 16 crew was "in on it."
The short answer: No.
The long answer: They were "gotten," as the station’s general manager, Stuart Kellogg, later admitted. In a post-mortem of the segment, Kellogg told the local newspaper that it simply "got out of hand." They didn't realize they were being spoofed until the segment was already over and Borat was wandering in front of the weather map while the meteorologist was trying to work.
There's a specific kind of "news anchor politeness" that Sacha Baron Cohen exploits. If you’re a host, you’re trained to keep the guest talking. You don't want to be the "rude" one who cuts off a foreigner. That hesitation is exactly where the comedy lives.
Why the Prank Worked
- The Front Company: One America Productions looked real.
- The Accent: As Kellogg famously said, "Who knows what an accent from Kazakhstan sounds like?"
- The Pre-Smartphone Era: In 2005, you couldn't just whip out a phone and see "Sacha Baron Cohen" trending on Twitter.
Honestly, the station only realized the scale of the prank when the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan actually hit theaters a year later. Suddenly, their morning news segment was a featured part of a blockbuster film.
The Fallout for Channel 16
While the segment is legendary now, it wasn't all laughs for the people involved at the time.
Reports circulated for years that a producer at the station was fired over the incident. While that hasn't been officially confirmed by the station in a "public statement" sense, it's a common story in the industry. Local news is a small world, and letting a "racist caricature" (from their perspective at the time) onto a live broadcast is a major vetting failure.
The anchor, Brad McMullan, eventually left the news business and became a successful businessman. He’s been asked about the Borat interview a thousand times. To his credit, he usually takes it in stride, though he’s admitted it was one of the weirdest moments of his life.
Is This the Only Time He Did It?
No way. The News 16 bit was just one piece of the puzzle. Borat did similar hits on other local stations, including a stop in Michigan where he famously told the anchor he was looking for "a girl who is not too old, like maybe 15."
The genius of the was Borat really on the news 16 moment is that it captures a specific time in media. A time when "viral" wasn't a word yet.
If you're looking for more "real" moments from the movie that people still argue about, check these out:
- The Rodeo: The scene where he sings the "Kazakhstan National Anthem" to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner? 100% real. The crowd nearly rioted.
- The Bed and Breakfast: The elderly Jewish couple who hosted him? They were real. But unlike many others, they actually liked the movie and thought Sacha was a genius.
- The Etiquette Lesson: The lady who tried to teach him table manners? She was real, and she was not happy about how it turned out.
What You Can Learn From This
Looking back at the News 16 incident, it's a masterclass in social engineering. Sacha Baron Cohen didn't break into the studio; he was invited. He used the systems of polite society against itself.
If you're a content creator or just someone interested in how media works, the takeaway is simple: Vetting matters. But also, sometimes the best comedy comes from the places where we're trying the hardest to be "professional."
If you want to dive deeper into how these pranks were pulled off, I'd suggest looking into the "Consent Agreements" the production team had people sign. They were massive, dense legal documents that basically said, "We can use your image for anything, even if it makes you look like a fool." Most people just signed them because they wanted to be on TV.
Check out the original WAPT News 16 clip on YouTube if you haven't seen the full version lately—it’s even more uncomfortable than you remember.
Next time you see a "weird" guest on a local morning show, just remember: it might not be a mistake. It might be a movie. Just don't expect the anchor to be in on the joke.
