DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — Sacha Baron Cohen’s “The Dictator” was banned in the Central Asian state of Tajikistan after censors deemed the movie unsuitable.
Tajikistan’s distributor of international movies, Tantana, said it would instead encourage people to watch Will Smith’s “Men in Black 3,” the Central Asian News Service reported Friday.
“We have a different mentality. We did not include ‘The Dictator’ in the list only because of these considerations,” a Tantana spokesman was quoted as saying.
“The Dictator,” in which Baron Cohen portrays a fictional Arab dictator who “risks his life so democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed,” also was banned in neighboring Turkmenistan.
The controversy adds to the British comedian’s misadventures in Central Asia. His “Borat” character deeply offended authorities in Kazakhstan, where it was banned, although the country later admitted the “mockumentary” hugely boosted tourist numbers.
Tajikistan is an ex-Soviet state ruled by President Emomalii Rahmon since 1992.