130-460: Brüno is a 2009 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and starring Sacha Baron Cohen , who produced, co-wrote, and played the gay Austrian fashion journalist Brüno . It is the third film based on one of Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show , following Ali G Indahouse and Borat . The film was released on July 10, 2009, to mostly positive reviews from critics and grossed $ 138 million worldwide. An alternative title for
260-444: A MacBook Pro . At Abbey Road Studios Brüno records a charity song, "Dove of Peace", featuring Bono , Elton John , Chris Martin , Snoop Dogg , Sting , and Slash . Cameos as themselves Baron Cohen was cognizant of his increased fame following the success of Borat , which led him to retire the character for a number of years, and realized it would be much harder to conduct his interviews as Brüno without being recognized. As
390-543: A spiritualist to contact the deceased Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli (a former lover) for advice, miming various sex acts on the "invisible" Pilatus. He consults charity consultants to select a world problem to maximize his fame, choosing the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . He flies to Jerusalem to interview former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib and confuses hummus and Hamas . He sings his own "Dove of Peace" while cajoling
520-585: A 14-year-old boy from Chicago. Spending the summer with relatives in Money, Mississippi , Till was killed for allegedly having wolf-whistled at a White woman. Till had been badly beaten, one of his eyes was gouged out, and he was shot in the head. The visceral response to his mother's decision to have an open-casket funeral mobilized the Black community throughout the US. Vann R. Newkirk wrote "the trial of his killers became
650-465: A TV show, he's among insiders. Most people knew who he was." The production team also deceived presidential candidate Ron Paul into being interviewed by Brüno by posing as an Austrian television reporter looking to question the congressman about economic issues. As soon as Brüno drops his trousers, the congressman storms out of the room. A spokeswoman for Paul commented on the incident. She said Baron Cohen's people were very deceptive in their tactics. At
780-472: A White American mother and a Kenyan father— defeated Republican Senator John McCain to become the first African American to be elected president. At least 95 percent of African American voters voted for Obama. He also received overwhelming support from young and educated Whites, a majority of Asians , and Hispanics , picking up a number of new states in the Democratic electoral column. Obama lost
910-523: A cart wearing nothing but a "sock" over his penis. Abdul told a radio interviewer that she was "scarred" by the incident. Brüno had its premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on June 25, 2009. The premiere is notable for taking place on the same day as the death of pop singer Michael Jackson , in which his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was covered by the red carpet , causing fans of
1040-567: A convention center, by print and Craigslist advertisements, promoting "hot girls", $ 1 beer, and $ 5 admission. Approximately 1,500 people attended the event and were greeted by signs that informed them that they were being filmed. No mobile phones, video, or cameras were allowed inside. The acts taking place became homosexual in nature, with Brüno inviting a man up to fight him, who turned out to be Lutz. Celine Dion 's " My Heart Will Go On " started to play as both men began kissing and stripping. The audience reacted violently and threw chairs and beer at
1170-557: A crucial role in producing the country's most valuable product and export: cotton . Enslaved people were instrumental in the construction of several prominent structures such as, the United States Capitol , the White House and other Washington, D.C.-based buildings. ) Similar building projects existed in the slave states . By 1815, the domestic slave trade had become a significant and major economic activity in
1300-669: A diner to gorge on high- carb junk food. Lutz carries him back to a hotel room. After a night of sex, they awake to find themselves trapped in a bondage mechanism, unable to find the key. They call a hotel engineer for help and are asked to leave. After accosting a group of anti-gay protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church while still in bondage gear and boarding a bus, Brüno and Lutz remove their equipment in Huntsville, Alabama . After being arrested, Lutz says he loves Brüno, but Brüno does not reciprocate, stating he
1430-668: A federal crime to aid or assist those who had fled slavery or to interfere with their capture. By that time, slavery, which almost exclusively targeted Black people, had become the most critical and contentious political issue in the Antebellum United States , repeatedly sparking crises and conflicts. Among these were the Missouri Compromise , the Compromise of 1850 , the infamous Dred Scott decision , and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry . Prior to
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#17327985537801560-464: A fictional genre in which dramatic techniques are combined with documentary elements to depict real events. Nor should either of those be confused with docufiction , a genre in which documentaries are contaminated with fictional elements. They are often presented as historical documentaries, with B roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité pieces following people as they go through various events. Examples emerged during
1690-549: A group formed to promote relations between the countries. After riots against Blacks in Cincinnati , its Black community sponsored founding of the Wilberforce Colony , an initially successful settlement of African American immigrants to Canada. The colony was one of the first such independent political entities. It lasted for a number of decades and provided a destination for about 200 Black families emigrating from
1820-470: A long-term liberal incumbent played by Gore Vidal . Man Bites Dog is a 1992 Belgian black comedy crime mockumentary written, produced, and directed by Rémy Belvaux , André Bonzel , and Benoît Poelvoorde . In 1995, Peter Jackson and Costa Botes directed Forgotten Silver , which claimed New Zealand "director" Colin McKenzie was a pioneer in filmmaking. When the film was later revealed to be
1950-471: A mockumentary about the survival of the megalodon . The Canadian series Trailer Park Boys and its films (1998–present) were one of the first mainstream examples of Canadian mockumentaries. Popular examples in the US include sitcoms The Office (2005–2013), Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), and Modern Family (2009–2020); the American improv comedy Reno 911! (2003–2009); Derek (2012–2014);
2080-415: A mockumentary refers to films, while the term comedy verite refers to TV series, though term is widely used here. The series Documentary Now! (2015–present) on IFC , created by Saturday Night Live alumni Bill Hader , Fred Armisen , and Seth Meyers , spoofs celebrated documentary films by parodying the style and subject of each documentary. Hight argues that television is a natural medium for
2210-456: A mockumentary, Jackson received criticism for tricking viewers. Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan from 2006, and its 2020 sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm , are two controversial yet successful films that use this style, as does Brüno , a similar film from 2009 also starring Sacha Baron Cohen . Sony Pictures Animation released their second animated feature, Surf's Up in 2007, which
2340-449: A mockumentary, as it provides for "extraordinarily rich sources of appropriation and commentary". In 2018, the BBC released the series Cunk on Britain created by Charlie Brooker and starring Diane Morgan about British history with Philomena Cunk, an extremely dim-witted and ill-informed interviewer, asking various experts ridiculous questions. The follow-up Cunk on Earth featuring
2470-676: A number of locations in the United States. In 1863, during the American Civil War , President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation . The proclamation declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were free. Advancing Union troops enforced the proclamation, with Texas being the last state to be emancipated, in 1865. Slavery in a few border states continued until
2600-499: A pageant illuminating the tyranny of White supremacy ". The state of Mississippi tried two defendants, but they were speedily acquitted by an all-White jury . One hundred days after Emmett Till's murder, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Alabama—indeed, Parks told Emmett's mother Mamie Till that "the photograph of Emmett's disfigured face in the casket was set in her mind when she refused to give up her seat on
2730-459: A parallel-parked car into a building) and closing with a close-up of his penis being swung around by pelvic gyrations. A focus group reviewing the pilot hate it. Brüno then attempts and fails to make a sex tape by seducing politician Ron Paul , claiming to have mistaken him for drag queen RuPaul . Paul angrily storms from the hotel room after Brüno drops his pants and dances around the room, muttering about Brüno’s homosexuality. Brüno consults
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#17327985537802860-592: A part of the West Bank that was under Israeli military control. The filing of the lawsuit was confirmed at a press conference on 2 December 2009. Included in the lawsuit are David Letterman , NBC Universal , CBS , Worldwide Pants , Gannett Company , and Larry Charles . In November 2010, the lawsuit was dismissed in Washington D.C. Court so as to be refiled in the Supreme Court of New York. In July 2012,
2990-748: A process known as White flight . Despite discrimination, drawing cards for leaving the hopelessness in the South were the growth of African American institutions and communities in Northern cities. Institutions included Black oriented organizations (e.g., Urban League , NAACP ), churches, businesses, and newspapers, as well as successes in the development in African American intellectual culture, music, and popular culture (e.g., Harlem Renaissance , Chicago Black Renaissance ). The Cotton Club in Harlem
3120-456: A scene in character and was removed from the set. Production on the episode was shut down temporarily, though actor Miguel Sandoval , who was told that a cousin of NBC executive Ben Silverman would appear as an extra in the jury, has stated that he recognized Baron Cohen and played along, commenting, "It's one thing for Borat to go into an antique store in Georgia or Alabama. For Brüno to go on
3250-585: A similar plot was released by BBC Two in 2022 and is available on Netflix . The BBC series People Like Us was first produced for radio in 1995 before a television version was made in 1999. Kay Stonham 's Audio Diaries was a similarly short tenured radio mockumentary that premiered the year after People Like Us 's run on Radio 4 ended. African American African Americans , also known as Black Americans , formerly also called Afro-Americans , are an American racial or ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from any of
3380-425: A small cash payment called "freedom dues". Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom. They raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or European settlers . By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown , and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640,
3510-594: A solution, Baron Cohen wore a wig that lowered the size of his forehead (easily recognizable on the Borat character), which to his amazement succeeded in hiding his identity for most of his interviews. Nevertheless, the flimsy nature of the disguise made Baron Cohen fearful that he would be recognized, to the point that he chose to live inside his trailer for almost the entirety of the six-month shoot. During Baron Cohen's Middle East interview of Alpher and Khatib, he repeatedly conflated Hamas and hummus and feigned belief that
3640-564: A staged publicity stunt at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards , Baron Cohen appeared as Brüno to present the award for Best Male Performer. Dressed as a winged angel wearing a jockstrap and white go-go boots, he was suspended on wires and flew over the audience towards the stage, but fell and landed on rapper Eminem , with his head in Eminem's lap and his buttocks in front of Eminem's face. Eminem shouted, "Are you fucking serious?" and, "Get this motherfucker off me!" Eminem and his entourage then walked out of
3770-418: A taping of The Richard Bey Show , however, was staged, and Bey was in on the joke, as his daytime show went off the air in 1996. The audience, however, was not made aware of the truth of the production. Similarly unaware of the true nature of the production was Paula Abdul , who, during her interview scene in the film, sat atop a Mexican landscaper and was presented with food adorned upon a man lying down on
3900-423: A year, compared with 41 percent in 1960. In 1965, 19 percent of Black Americans had incomes equal to the national median, a proportion that rose to 27 percent by 1967. In 1960, the median level of education for Blacks had been 10.8 years, and by the late 1960s, the figure rose to 12.2 years, half a year behind the median for Whites. Politically and economically, African Americans have made substantial strides during
4030-411: Is a 1978 television film in mockumentary style about The Rutles , a fictional band that parodies The Beatles . The Beatles' own 1964 feature film debut, A Hard Day's Night , was itself filmed in mockumentary style; it ostensibly documents a few typical (and highly fictionalized) days in the life of the band as they travel from Liverpool to London for a television appearance. Since the beginning of
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4160-703: Is a Cold-War era American "mockumentary" film that made use of archival government footage from the 1950s. Woody Allen's 1983 film Zelig stars Allen as a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he is near, and Allen is edited into historical archive footage. In 1984, Christopher Guest co-wrote and starred in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap , directed by Rob Reiner . Guest went on to write and direct other mockumentaries including Waiting for Guffman , Best in Show , and A Mighty Wind , all written with costar Eugene Levy . In Central Europe,
4290-446: Is a film that is 82 minutes long and doesn't contain 30 boring seconds", although he noted that the film's R rating was "very, very hard". Andy Lowe from Total Film gave it a lower review, giving it three stars out of five and calling it "as phony and frustrating as it is funny... The clothes may be new and more fabulous, but the emperor seriously needs to go shopping." Others felt it was not as good, feeling it would insult and offend
4420-491: Is another outlandish and entertaining mockumentary from Sacha Baron Cohen." Metacritic gives Brüno an average score of 54 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C" on a scale of A+ to F. Nick Curtis of the Evening Standard wrote that Brüno is "funnier, more offensive, and more outrageous than Borat". The Telegraph gave
4550-587: The African American audience by describing his "difficulties" in raising a child as a single parent, but then disapproval when he reveals he's looking for "Mr. Right". Brüno shows off the baby he named O.J. , whom he acquired in Africa by trading him for a U2 Product Red iPod . He shows photographs of the boy in dangerous and provocative situations and the audience is appalled. Social services take O.J. from Brüno, driving him to depression. He goes to
4680-566: The American South , with four million enslaved people only liberated during and at the end of the Civil War in 1865. During Reconstruction , they gained citizenship and adult-males the right to vote ; however, due to the widespread policy and ideology of White supremacy , they were largely treated as second-class citizens and found themselves soon disenfranchised in the South . These circumstances changed due to participation in
4810-506: The Black racial groups of Africa . African Americans constitute the second largest ethno-racial group in the US after White Americans . The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States . Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African American,
4940-685: The Civil War , eight serving presidents had owned slaves, a practice that was legally protected under the US Constitution. By 1860, the number of enslaved Black people in the US had grown to between 3.5 to 4.4 million, largely as a result of the Atlantic slave trade . In addition, 488,000–500,000 Black people lived free (with legislated limits) across the country. With legislated limits imposed upon them in addition to "unconquerable prejudice" from Whites according to Henry Clay . In response to these conditions, some free Black people chose to leave
5070-754: The Great Awakening . By 1775, Africans made up 20% of the population in the American colonies , which made them the second largest ethnic group after English Americans . During the 1770s, Africans, both enslaved and free, helped rebellious American colonists secure their independence by defeating the British in the American Revolutionary War . Blacks played a role in both sides in the American Revolution. Activists in
5200-606: The Internet Movie Database . Gay Austrian fashion reporter Brüno Gehard is fired from his own television show, Funkyzeit mit Brüno after disrupting a Milan Fashion Week catwalk, and his lover Diesel leaves him for another man. Accompanied by his assistant's assistant, Lutz Schulz, he travels to the United States to become a famous Hollywood celebrity. Brüno unsuccessfully attempts an acting career as an extra on Medium . He then interviews Paula Abdul , until he scares her off when he serves her sushi on
5330-598: The Irish and Germans . According to the 2010 census , nearly 3% of people who self-identified as Black had recent ancestors who immigrated from another country. Self-reported non-Hispanic Black immigrants from the Caribbean , mostly from Jamaica and Haiti, represented 0.9% of the US population, at 2.6 million. Self-reported Black immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa also represented 0.9%, at about 2.8 million. Additionally, self-identified Black Hispanics represented 0.4% of
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5460-610: The Western states. The west does have a sizable Black population in certain areas, however. California, the nation's most populous state, has the fifth largest African American population, only behind New York, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. According to the 2000 census, approximately 2.05% of African Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino in origin , many of whom may be of Brazilian , Puerto Rican , Dominican , Cuban , Haitian , or other Latin American descent. The only self-reported ancestral groups larger than African Americans are
5590-485: The Winyah Bay area of present-day South Carolina ), founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526. The ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans . De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterward, due to an epidemic and the colony was abandoned. The settlers and
5720-486: The alias "Straight Dave", hosts a cage-fight match in Arkansas , "Straight Dave's Man Slammin' Maxout". Lutz appears at the event and insults Brüno, leading to them fighting in the cage. During the confrontation, they begin to kiss and strip in front of shocked spectators who throw objects into the cage. The moment gets international press, and the now-famous Brüno attempts to marry Lutz, getting O.J. back in exchange for
5850-446: The colony of Georgia to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism . King Charles II issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine , but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-Black militia unit defending Spanish Florida as early as 1683. One of
5980-425: The military conflicts of the United States , substantial migration out of the South , the elimination of legal racial segregation , and the civil rights movement which sought political and social freedom. However, racism against African Americans and racial socioeconomic disparity remain a problem into the 21st century. In the 20th and 21st centuries, immigration has played an increasingly significant role in
6110-554: The transatlantic slave trade were people from several Central and West Africa ethnic groups. They had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids, or sold by other West Africans, or by half-European "merchant princes" to European slave traders, who brought them to the Americas. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo in the Caribbean to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony (most likely located in
6240-429: The 1790s, Governor Francisco Luis Héctor, baron of Carondelet reinforced local fortifications and recruit even more free Black men for the militia. Carondelet doubled the number of free Black men who served, creating two more militia companies—one made up of Black members and the other of pardo (mixed race). Serving in the militia brought free Black men one step closer to equality with Whites, allowing them, for example,
6370-633: The 1900 Hampton Negro Conference , Reverend Matthew Anderson said: "...the lines along most of the avenues of wage earning are more rigidly drawn in the North than in the South." Within the housing market, stronger discriminatory measures were used in correlation to the influx, resulting in a mix of "targeted violence, restrictive covenants , redlining and racial steering ". While many Whites defended their space with violence, intimidation, or legal tactics toward African Americans, many other Whites migrated to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions,
6500-406: The 1950s when archival film footage became available. A very early example was a short piece on the " Swiss Spaghetti Harvest " that appeared as an April Fools' prank on the British television program Panorama in 1957. Mockumentaries can be partly or wholly improvised . Early work, including Luis Buñuel 's 1933 Land Without Bread , Orson Welles 's 1938 radio broadcast of The War of
6630-491: The 1960s but was popularized in the mid-1990s when This Is Spinal Tap director Rob Reiner used it in interviews to describe that film. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues in a satirical way by using a fictional setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. While mockumentaries are usually comedic , pseudo-documentaries are their dramatic equivalents. However, pseudo-documentary should not be confused with docudrama ,
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#17327985537806760-405: The 1980s, the mockumentary format has gained considerable attention. The 1980 South African film The Gods Must be Crazy (along with its 1989 sequel ) is presented in the manner of a nature documentary , with documentary narrator Paddy O'Byrne describing the events of the film in the manner of a biologist or anthropologist presenting scientific knowledge to viewers. In 1982, The Atomic Cafe
6890-683: The African slave trade, Spanish rule introduced a new law called coartación , which allowed slaves to buy their freedom, and that of others. Although some did not have the money to do so, government measures on slavery enabled the existence of many free Blacks. This caused problems to the Spaniards with the French creoles (French who had settled in New France ) who had also populated Spanish Louisiana. The French creoles cited that measure as one of
7020-564: The African-American community. As of 2022, 10% of Black Americans were immigrants, and 20% were either immigrants or the children of immigrants. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first, and so far only, African American to be elected president of the United States. Kamala Harris became the nation's first African-American vice president in 2020. African-American culture has had a significant influence on worldwide culture, making numerous contributions to visual arts , literature ,
7150-507: The American Revolution. They fought in the 1779 battle in which Spain captured Baton Rouge from the British. Gálvez also commanded them in campaigns against the British outposts in Mobile , Alabama , and Pensacola , Florida. He recruited slaves for the militia by pledging to free anyone who was seriously wounded and promised to secure a low price for coartación (buy their freedom and that of others) for those who received lesser wounds. During
7280-716: The Atlantic to the Western Hemisphere . After arriving in the Americas , they were sold as slaves to European colonists and put to work on plantations , particularly in the southern colonies . A few were able to achieve freedom through manumission or escape, and founded independent communities before and during the American Revolution . After the United States was founded in 1783, most Black people continued to be enslaved , primarily concentrated in
7410-481: The Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson , would later own one of the first Black "slaves", John Casor , resulting from the court ruling of a civil case. The popular conception of a race-based slave system did not fully develop until the 18th century. The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven Black slaves into New Amsterdam (present-day New York City ). All
7540-508: The English language, philosophy , politics, cuisine , sports , and music . The African-American contribution to popular music is so profound that most American music , including jazz , gospel , blues , rock and roll , funk , disco , house , techno , hip hop , R&B , trap , and soul , has its origins either partially or entirely in the African-American community. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in
7670-456: The Jim Crow laws, to avoid racially motivated violence . To maintain self-esteem and dignity, African Americans such as Anthony Overton and Mary McLeod Bethune continued to build their own schools , churches , banks, social clubs, and other businesses. In the last decade of the 19th century, racially discriminatory laws and racial violence aimed at African Americans began to mushroom in
7800-501: The Money and Run (1969), The Clowns (1970) by Federico Fellini (a peculiar hybrid of documentary and fiction , a docufiction), Smile (1975) , Carlos Mayolo 's The Vampires of Poverty (1977) and All You Need Is Cash (1978). Albert Brooks was also an early popularizer of the mockumentary style with his film Real Life , 1979, a spoof of the 1973 reality television series An American Family . Woody Allen 's Take
7930-427: The Money and Run is presented in documentary style with Allen playing a fictional criminal, Virgil Starkwell, whose crime exploits are "explored" throughout the film. Jackson Beck , who used to narrate documentaries in the 1940s, provides the voice-over narration. Fictional interviews are inter-spliced throughout, especially those of Starkwell's parents who wear Groucho Marx noses and mustaches. The style of this film
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#17327985537808060-747: The Montgomery bus." The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the conditions which brought it into being are credited with putting pressure on presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson . Johnson put his support behind passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and labor unions , and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which expanded federal authority over states to ensure Black political participation through protection of voter registration and elections. By 1966,
8190-772: The Patriot cause included James Armistead , Prince Whipple , and Oliver Cromwell . Around 15,000 Black Loyalists left with the British after the war, most of them ending up as free Black people in England or its colonies, such as the Black Nova Scotians and the Sierra Leone Creole people . In the Spanish Louisiana , Governor Bernardo de Gálvez organized Spanish free Black men into two militia companies to defend New Orleans during
8320-546: The South sparked the Great Migration during the first half of the 20th century which led to a growing African American community in Northern and Western United States. The rapid influx of Blacks disturbed the racial balance within Northern and Western cities, exacerbating hostility between both Blacks and Whites in the two regions. The Red Summer of 1919 was marked by hundreds of deaths and higher casualties across
8450-521: The US Census Bureau, evidence from the 2000 census indicates that many African and Caribbean immigrant ethnic groups do not identify as "Black, African Am., or Negro". Instead, they wrote in their own respective ethnic groups in the "Some Other Race" write-in entry. As a result, the census bureau devised a new, separate "African American" ethnic group category in 2010 for ethnic African Americans. Nigerian Americans and Ethiopian Americans were
8580-661: The US and emigrate to Liberia in West Africa. Liberia had been established in 1821 as a settlement by the American Colonization Society (ACS), with many abolitionist members of the ACS believing Black Americans would have greater opportunities for freedom and equality in Africa than they would in the US. Slaves not only represented a significant financial investment for their owners, but they also played
8710-506: The US as a result of race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919 and the Omaha race riot of 1919 . Overall, Blacks in Northern and Western cities experienced systemic discrimination in a plethora of aspects of life. Within employment, economic opportunities for Blacks were routed to the lowest-status and restrictive in potential mobility. At
8840-407: The US. As a result of this large-scale forced movement, countless individuals lost their connection to families and clans, and many ethnic Africans lost their knowledge of varying tribal origins in Africa. The 1863 photograph of Wilson Chinn , a branded slave from Louisiana, along with the famous image of Gordon and his scarred back, served as two of the earliest and most powerful examples of how
8970-423: The United States . In June 2021, Juneteenth , a day which commemorates the end of slavery in the US, became a federal holiday. In 1790, when the first US census was taken, Africans (including slaves and free people) numbered about 760,000—about 19.3% of the population. In 1860, at the start of the Civil War , the African American population had increased to 4.4 million, but the percentage rate dropped to 14% of
9100-584: The United States and Canada and $ 78,751,301 overseas for a worldwide total of $ 138,805,831. For its opening weekend, it narrowly beat Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (in its second week of release) for the highest gross, in the lowest attended second-weekend-in-July in 18 years. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 224 reviews, and an average rating of 6.18/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Crude and offensive, but with ample cultural insights and gut-busting laughs, Bruno
9230-477: The United States population, at about 1.2 million people, largely found within the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities. Self-reported Black immigrants hailing from other countries in the Americas, such as Brazil and Canada, as well as several European countries, represented less than 0.1% of the population. Mixed-race Hispanic and non-Hispanic Americans who identified as being part Black, represented 0.9% of
9360-763: The United States, a period often referred to as the " nadir of American race relations ". These discriminatory acts included racial segregation—upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896—which was legally mandated by southern states and nationwide at the local level of government, voter suppression or disenfranchisement in the southern states, denial of economic opportunity or resources nationwide, and private acts of violence and mass racial violence aimed at African Americans unhindered or encouraged by government authorities. The desperate conditions of African Americans in
9490-695: The United States, continuing to flourish until the 1860s. Historians estimate that nearly one million individuals were subjected to this forced migration, which was often referred to as a new "Middle Passage". The historian Ira Berlin described this internal forced migration of enslaved people as the "central event" in the life of a slave during the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Berlin emphasized that whether enslaved individuals were directly uprooted or lived in constant fear that they or their families would be involuntarily relocated, "the massive deportation traumatized Black people" throughout
9620-469: The United States. Instead, the interviews conducted by the flamboyant Brüno character drifted towards the topic of homosexuality. On November 2, 2008, Baron Cohen, dressed as Brüno, and his film crew were spotted at a Los Angeles rally that was in support of California 's Proposition 8 . On November 7, 2008, while appearing as an extra in a scene for the NBC TV series Medium , Baron Cohen interrupted
9750-524: The Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of lifetime slavery when they sentenced John Punch , a Negro, to lifetime servitude under his master Hugh Gwyn , for running away. In Spanish Florida , some Spanish married or had unions with Pensacola , Creek or African women, both enslaved and free, and their descendants created a mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattos . The Spanish encouraged slaves from
9880-489: The World ". The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour (1970–1971) also featured mockumentary pieces that interspersed both scripted and real-life man-in-the-street interviews, the most famous likely being "The Puck Crisis" in which hockey pucks were claimed to have become infected with a form of Dutch elm disease . All You Need Is Cash , developed from an early series of sketches in the comedy series Rutland Weekend Television ,
10010-551: The Worlds , various April Fools' Day news reports, and vérité -style film and television during the 1960s and 1970s, served as precursor to the genre. Early examples of mock-documentaries include various films by Peter Watkins , such as The War Game (1965), Privilege (1967), and the dystopic Punishment Park (1971). Further examples are " The Connection " (1961), A Hard Day's Night (1964), David Holzman's Diary (1967), Pat Paulsen for President (1968), Take
10140-410: The body of a totally naked Mexican man, even though she had no problem in sitting on a fully-clothed Mexican man beforehand. He then produces a celebrity interview pilot , showing him dancing erotically, criticizing Jamie Lynn Spears ' fetus with reality TV star Brittny Gastineau , unsuccessfully attempting to interview actor Harrison Ford , (who angrily tells Brüno to “Fuck Off” while walking from
10270-469: The clerk responds "Okay", while maintaining an awkward posture. Following the sudden death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, a scene from Brüno was hastily removed from the US theatrical version of the film before its Hollywood premiere later that evening. The scene involved Brüno tricking La Toya Jackson into an interview in which he asked her to take a seat on hunched over Mexican workers substituting for chairs and invited her to eat sushi from
10400-430: The colony's slaves, however, were freed upon its surrender to the English. Massachusetts was the first English colony to legally recognize slavery in 1641. In 1662, Virginia passed a law that children of enslaved women would take the status of the mother, rather than that of the father, as was the case under common law . This legal principle was called partus sequitur ventrum . By an act of 1699, Virginia ordered
10530-685: The comedy series The Muppets (2015); People Just Do Nothing (2011–2018) and the Australian Chris Lilley shows Angry Boys , Summer Heights High , We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year , Ja'mie: Private School Girl , Jonah from Tonga and Lunatics . Shows currently running in this format include What We Do in the Shadows (2019–present) and Abbott Elementary (2021–present). Strictly speaking,
10660-547: The conflict was between Jews and Hindus . The two interviewees (who had received a fee to appear on camera), convinced by the elaborate production, were confused by the questions but generally went along, even when asked by Baron Cohen to hold hands. On June 6, 2008, a riot ensued at a stunt orchestrated by Baron Cohen and the producers of the film as they staged a "Blue Collar Brawlin'" in Fort Smith, Arkansas . Patrons were lured to an event billed as cage fighting , held at
10790-428: The deportation of all free Blacks, effectively defining all people of African descent who remained in the colony as slaves. In 1670, the colonial assembly passed a law prohibiting free and baptized Blacks (and Native Americans) from purchasing Christians (in this act meaning White Europeans) but allowing them to buy people "of their owne nation". In Spanish Louisiana , although there was no movement toward abolition of
10920-539: The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from 1966 to 1975, expanded upon the aims of the civil rights movement to include economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from White authority. During the post-war period, many African Americans continued to be economically disadvantaged relative to other Americans. Average Black income stood at 54 percent of that of White workers in 1947, and 55 percent in 1962. In 1959, median family income for Whites
11050-699: The fictional Olympic Deliverance Commission in the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics ), and W1A , which follows the main characters of Twenty Twelve as they start work at the BBC, as well as The Office (2001) and its many international offshoots , and Come Fly with Me (2010), which follows the activity at a fictional airport and its variety of staff and passengers. British comedy duo Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French often presented short mockumentaries as extended sketches in their TV show French & Saunders . Discovery Channel opened its annual Shark Week on 4 Aug 2013 with Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives ,
11180-527: The film (David Koechner, Eric Roberts, Chaz Bono, Ed Begley Jr.), performing arts (Ja Rule, Billy Morrison), and TV (Lindsey Shaw, Pierson Fode, Johnny Bananas) to play fictional versions of themselves. In television, the most notable mockumentaries in the 2000s have been ABC Australia 's The Games (1998–2000), the Canadian series Trailer Park Boys (1999–present), the British shows Marion and Geoff (2000), Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) (which follows
11310-431: The film four stars out of four, saying "impossible not to laugh and also praising Brüno's controversial style of comedy." The BBC also gave the film a positive review, saying "Brüno pushes the boundaries further than Borat ever did." However, they also said that "It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea" due to the offensive nature of the film. Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, and said "Here
11440-475: The film in Kyiv on July 22, 2009, was disrupted by a smoke bomb . On 2 December 2009, it was reported that Ayman Abu Aita, who stated he was falsely portrayed as a terrorist in the film, was filing a lawsuit of $ 110 million in libel damages for defamation. Ayman Abu Aita was identified in the film as a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades . Abu Aita says that he was never a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and
11570-609: The film is Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt . It was initially a mock title proposed by Hollywood news and gossip blog Defamer and mistakenly reported as genuine by a number of sources of film information, including MovieTome , where it was still being used in the search results as late as 2011, The Irish Times , The Boston Globe , and (although no longer)
11700-481: The film, February 2014), but is included in the DVD and Blu-ray release's special features. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 17, 2009. Special features include deleted, alternative, and extended scenes and an audio commentary by Baron Cohen and Larry Charles. Brüno opened with $ 30,619,130, ranking number one in its first weekend. At the end of its run on August 20, it had grossed $ 60,054,530 in
11830-536: The first African American woman elected to the US Senate . There were 8,936 Black officeholders in the United States in 2000, showing a net increase of 7,467 since 1970. In 2001, there were 484 Black mayors. In 2005, the number of Africans immigrating to the United States, in a single year, surpassed the peak number who were involuntarily brought to the United States during the Atlantic slave trade . On November 4, 2008, Democratic Senator Barack Obama —the son of
11960-485: The first time that viewers were exposed to mockumentary was in 1988 when the Czechoslovakian short film Oil Gobblers was shown. For two weeks, TV viewers believed that the oil-eating animals really existed. Tim Robbins ' 1992 film Bob Roberts was a mockumentary centered around the senatorial campaign of a right-wing stock trader and folksinger, and the unsavory connections and dirty tricks used to defeat
12090-570: The future United States) were "20 and odd negroes" who arrived in Jamestown , Virginia via Cape Comfort in August 1619 as indentured servants . As many Virginian settlers began to die from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. An indentured servant (who could be White or Black) would work for several years (usually four to seven) without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland
12220-463: The gay community: A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that the film shows "that lampooning homophobia has become an acceptable, almost unavoidable form of homophobic humor," and called the film "a lazy piece of work that panders more than it provokes." At the Movies critic Ben Mankiewicz criticized the film for being too demeaning and playing on homosexual stereotypes. He later named Brüno
12350-545: The humour as "pretty average" and "inoffensive to Austria". Within the Austrian press, reactions were generally mild and positive, although the film was also labelled "repetitive". Christian Fuchs, from the Austrian radio station FM4, wrote that "hidden beneath the hard-as-nails satirist Cohen, lies a humanist who enlightens." However, the film also met some opposition in Austria, due to its portrayal of homosexuality, and basing
12480-480: The lawsuit was reported to have been settled under undisclosed terms. Baron Cohen has said he had to increase his security detail following death threats from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades after the release of the film. The group was angered by the interview with Abu Aita in which he was linked with the group, an armed wing of the Fatah movement. In a statement to the media, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades denied that Abu Aita
12610-443: The majority of first-generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin. Most African Americans are of West African and coastal Central African ancestry, with varying amounts of Western European and Native American ancestry. African-American history began in the 16th century, with Africans from West Africa and coastal Central Africa being sold to European slave traders and transported across
12740-489: The most reported sub-Saharan African groups in the United States. Historically, African Americans have been undercounted in the US census due to a number of factors. In the 2020 census, the African American population was undercounted at an estimated rate of 3.3%, up from 2.1% in 2010. Texas has the largest African American population by state. Followed by Texas is Florida , with 3.8 million, and Georgia , with 3.6 million. After 100 years of African Americans leaving
12870-465: The newborn medium of photography could be used to visually document and encapsulate the brutality and cruelty of slavery. Emigration of free Blacks to their continent of origin had been proposed since the Revolutionary war. After Haiti became independent, it tried to recruit African Americans to migrate there after it re-established trade relations with the United States. The Haitian Union was
13000-451: The overall White vote, although he won a larger proportion of White votes than any previous non-incumbent Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter . Obama was reelected for a second and final term , by a similar margin on November 6, 2012. In 2021, Kamala Harris , the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother, became the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to serve as Vice President of
13130-417: The overall population of the country. The vast majority were slaves, with only 488,000 counted as " freemen ". By 1900, the Black population had doubled and reached 8.8 million. In 1910, about 90% of African Americans lived in the South. Large numbers began migrating north looking for better job opportunities and living conditions, and to escape Jim Crow laws and racial violence. The Great Migration , as it
13260-471: The performers. The performers were Brüno (Baron Cohen) under the ironic gimmick, "Straight Dave", and Gustaf Hammarsten portraying his opponent, Lutz. In July 2008, Tyler, Texas television station KETK-TV was approached by a "documentary filmmaker" who was allowed to bring a crew to interview a few members of the staff, including news director Neal Barton and sports director Danny Elzner. They signed releases and expected to be talking about small-town news in
13390-452: The population. Of the 12.6% of United States residents who identified as Black, around 10.3% were "native Black American" or ethnic African Americans, who are direct descendants of West/Central Africans brought to the US as slaves. These individuals make up well over 80% of all Blacks in the country. When including people of mixed-race origin , about 13.5% of the US population self-identified as Black or "mixed with Black". However, according to
13520-464: The portrayal of Austria on motifs such as Josef Fritzl and Adolf Hitler , even going as far as calling Mel Gibson "der Führer " as he pointed at the actor/director's photo in the film. In Ukraine, the film was scheduled to premiere on July 23, but on July 14, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine decided to ban the distribution and demonstration of the film in the country. The reason for
13650-509: The post-war Reconstruction era was initially a time of progress for African Americans, that period ended in 1876. By the late 1890s, Southern states enacted Jim Crow laws to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchisement . Segregation was now imposed with Jim Crow laws, using signs used to show Blacks where they could legally walk, talk, drink, rest, or eat. For those places that were racially mixed, non-Whites had to wait until all White customers were dealt with. Most African Americans obeyed
13780-510: The post–civil rights era. In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American Supreme Court Justice. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the US Congress . In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected governor in US history. Clarence Thomas succeeded Marshall to become the second African American Supreme Court Justice in 1991. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became
13910-524: The prohibition was that nine out of fourteen members of a commission of experts said the film contained "obscene language, homosexual scenes, and other scenes of offensive nature never shown in Ukraine." The " Vinnytsia Human Rights Group" immediately expressed its anger with the ban. Journalist Yevhen Minko accused the Ministry of moral censorship that missed the point of the film. An unofficial premiere of
14040-642: The ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865. While the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited US citizenship to Whites only, the 14th Amendment (1868) gave Black people citizenship, and the 15th Amendment (1870) gave Black men the right to vote. African Americans quickly set up congregations for themselves, as well as schools and community/civic associations, to have space away from White control or oversight. While
14170-468: The right to carry arms and boosting their earning power. However, actually these privileges distanced free Black men from enslaved Blacks and encouraged them to identify with Whites. Slavery had been tacitly enshrined in the US Constitution through provisions such as Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, commonly known as the 3/5 compromise . Due to the restrictions of Section 9, Clause 1 , Congress
14300-460: The show and did not return. It was later revealed that Eminem and Baron Cohen had staged the incident, rehearsing it beforehand to make sure it went off without a hitch, leaving Eminem laughing to himself in his hotel room about how the crowd was easily fooled. The trailers for the film shown in the U.S. included a scene in which Brüno shops for clothing at Sears , telling the sales clerk "You might find this very hard to believe, but I'm gay" to which
14430-609: The singer to access the star of another Michael Jackson (a radio host) for tributes. It was later released on July 10, 2009, in the United States. The film received an early release in Australia, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Iceland on July 8 and in Germany, Greece, Ireland, Serbia, Slovenia , Israel, and Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 9, 2009. The film was then released internationally on July 10. In
14560-620: The slaves who had not escaped returned to the Island of Hispaniola , whence they had come. The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free Black domestic servant from Seville , and Miguel Rodríguez, a White Segovian conquistador in 1565 in St. Augustine (Spanish Florida), is the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States. The first recorded Africans in English America (including most of
14690-682: The south in large numbers seeking better opportunities and treatment in the west and north, a movement known as the Great Migration , there is now a reverse trend, called the New Great Migration . As with the earlier Great Migration, the New Great Migration is primarily directed toward cities and large urban areas, such as Charlotte , Houston , Dallas , Fort Worth , Huntsville , Raleigh , Tampa , San Antonio , New Orleans , Memphis , Nashville , Jacksonville , and so forth. A growing percentage of African Americans from
14820-741: The system's worst elements. First established in South Carolina in 1704, groups of armed White men— slave patrols —were formed to monitor enslaved Black people. Their function was to police slaves, especially fugitives. Slave owners feared that slaves might organize revolts or slave rebellions , so state militias were formed to provide a military command structure and discipline within the slave patrols. These patrols were used to detect, encounter, and crush any organized slave meetings which might lead to revolts or rebellions . The earliest African American congregations and churches were organized before 1800 in both northern and southern cities following
14950-530: The time, he thought they were "legitimate" but later confessed to some concern. "I'm familiar with his work, so you can imagine how I feel about it," he said. Jesse Benton , senior vice-president of Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty organization and former campaign spokesman for Paul, said Paul was not familiar with Baron Cohen's programme, Da Ali G Show . "If it's not on hard-core financial news, he doesn't follow it," Benton said. But, he added, "It sounds like it's going to be pretty funny." The scene filmed during
15080-468: The torso of an overweight and hairy naked man. In a ploy to get Michael's phone number, Brüno asked La Toya to let him look at her mobile phone, which she did. The latter part of this scene was later confirmed to be removed from the film permanently (about the phone number, but "the Mexicans as furniture scene" was included until the food is served on a naked man, at a SVT Swedish television broadcast of
15210-592: The total population, declined until 1930 and has been rising since then. By 1990, the African American population reached about 30 million and represented 12% of the US population, roughly the same proportion as in 1900. At the time of the 2000 US census , 54.8% of African Americans lived in the South . In that year, 17.6% of African Americans lived in the Northeast and 18.7% in the Midwest , while only 8.9% lived in
15340-505: The two to caress each other's hands. He also meets with Ayman Abu Aita, a militant group leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon , where he hopes to be kidnapped. Brüno insults him and he is ordered to leave. Brüno interviews parents of child models , asking if their toddlers would undergo liposuction and perform dangerous stunts. On a talk show hosted by Richard Bey , he initially draws sympathy from
15470-523: The west and north are migrating to the southern region of the US for economic and cultural reasons. The New York City , Chicago , and Los Angeles metropolitan areas have the highest decline in African Americans, while Atlanta , Dallas , and Houston have the highest increase respectively. Several smaller metro areas also saw sizable gains, including San Antonio; Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C.; and Orlando. Despite recent declines, as of 2020,
15600-597: The worst film at the halfway point of 2009. On October 11, 2010, it was revealed that the Motion Picture Association of America 's Classification and Rating Administration would specifically note in the future which films contained "male nudity". A spokesman said this was in direct response to parental concerns about the content of Brüno . While Borat was criticised in Kazakhstan , Austrians were generally positive about Brüno . Others regarded
15730-543: Was $ 5,600 (equivalent to $ 58,532 in 2023), compared with $ 2,900 (equivalent to $ 30,311 in 2023) for non-White families. In 1965, 43 percent of all Black families fell into the poverty bracket, earning under $ 3,000 (equivalent to $ 29,005 in 2023) a year. The 1960s saw improvements in the social and economic conditions of many Black Americans. From 1965 to 1969, Black family income rose from 54 to 60 percent of White family income. In 1968, 23 percent of Black families earned under $ 3,000 (equivalent to $ 26,285 in 2023)
15860-401: Was a Whites-only establishment, with Blacks (such as Duke Ellington ) allowed to perform, but to a White audience. Black Americans also found a new ground for political power in Northern cities, without the enforced disabilities of Jim Crow . By the 1950s, the civil rights movement was gaining momentum. A 1955 lynching that sparked public outrage about injustice was that of Emmett Till ,
15990-407: Was a member and threatened that they "reserve the right to respond in the way we find suitable against this man (Baron Cohen)" and that they feel the segment was "a dirty use of our brother Ayman". Mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock and documentary ) is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a documentary. The term originated in
16120-454: Was called, spanned the 1890s to the 1970s. From 1916 through the 1960s, more than 6 million Black people moved north. But in the 1970s and 1980s, that trend reversed , with more African Americans moving south to the Sun Belt than leaving it. The following table of the African American population in the United States over time shows that the African American population, as a percentage of
16250-543: Was influenced by " carb goggles ". Lutz leaves Brüno. After realizing the biggest names in Hollywood are heterosexual , Brüno consults two gay converters to help him become heterosexual. He attempts other "masculine" activities, such as learning karate , joining the National Guard , going hunting, and attending a swingers ' party (during which he is whipped by a dominatrix ). Eight months later, Brüno, under
16380-413: Was similar to slavery. Servants could be bought, sold, or leased, and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or attempting to running away. Unlike slaves, they were freed after their term of service expired or if their freedom was purchased. Their children did not inherit their status, and on their release from contract they received "a year's provision of corn, double apparel, tools necessary", and
16510-563: Was the first of its kind to incorporate the mockumentary style into animation. REC , a 2007 Spanish film by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, uses journalism aesthetics to approach a horror universe set up in a real building in Barcelona . The film was remade in the United States as the 2008 film Quarantine . Ivo Raza's 2020 mockumentary Reboot Camp is a comedy about a fake cult that uses an ensemble cast of celebrities from
16640-411: Was tricked into appearing in the film. In an interview with Time , Abu Aita stated, "It is true that I was jailed in 2003...I was active in resisting the occupation, in non-violent ways." Baron Cohen claims he set up a meeting with Aita in the West Bank with the help of a CIA agent. According to the lawsuit, however, the interview with Abu Aita took place at a hotel chosen by Baron Cohen and located in
16770-553: Was unable to pass an Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves until 1807. Fugitive slave laws (derived from the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution— Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 ) were passed by Congress in both 1793 and 1850 , guaranteeing the right of a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave anywhere within the US. Slave owners, who viewed enslaved people as property, ensured that it became
16900-408: Was widely appropriated by others and revisited by Allen himself in films such as Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971), Zelig (1983) and Sweet and Lowdown (1999). Early use of the mockumentary format in television comedy can be seen in several sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974), such as " Hell's Grannies ", " Piranha Brothers ", and " The Funniest Joke in
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