Borat barred from White House

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has been barred from the White House after failing in his bid to invite US President George W Bush to a screening of his upcoming movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Secret service agents turned away the English funnyman Cohen, in character as the anti-Semitic, sexist Borat Sagdiyev after failing to entice the President to view his film on Thursday.

Also invited to the screening were OJ Simpson, Mel Gibson and other "American dignitaries".

The stunt was timed to coincide with an official visit by Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev who is scheduled to meet with Bush to raise the profile of their country.