It's the question everyone asked since he arrived New Year's Day: When the Imperial Rodeo opens tonight in Salem, who will sing the national anthem?

Bobby Rowe can tell you who won't be singing -- a certain scrawny and hairy fictional Kazakh television reporter named Borat.

As the rodeo's owner and producer, bringing the show to the Salem Civic Center for its 40th year, Rowe has other concerns -- the condition of the arena dirt, sick horses, the women bull riders arriving from across the country.

Not that he won't talk about it.

Oh, he'll talk about it in his long-winded way, peppered with cowboy phrases like "son of a buck," and the "ole boy" who let him see his part in the film when he was interviewed by "20/20."

His clip in the movie, the equally long-winded "Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," included Rowe advising Borat to shave his mustache to look less like a terrorist. He also discourages Borat from greeting men with kisses on the cheek, leading to the topic of homosexuals. Borat tells Rowe they are jailed and killed in his country.

"That's what we're trying to get done here," Rowe replies before the two high-five at Borat's prompting.

"I guess I could have been a little more P.C.," Rowe, 72, admitted Thursday, sitting in the civic center in mud-caked work boots and a cowboy hat. "I got into it myself. I'm the only one to blame."

It was two years ago when Rowe agreed to let the guy he thought was a foreign traveler sing "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Salem rodeo. What he did not know was the mustachioed man who arrived minutes before showtime was British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who was making a movie about fictional Borat's cross-country journey.

In the arena, Cohen made incendiary statements about the Iraq war, lobbed backhanded compliments at President Bush and mangled the national anthem.

As for Rowe, he's one of many internationally who were duped in the movie that opened Nov. 3. Among the others were a humor coach; a driving instructor; a bed-and-breakfast-owning Jewish couple; and guests at a Southern dinner party.

But Rowe is not from the same, litigation-ready generation as a pair of South Carolina fraternity brothers who sued claiming they were tricked into making sexist remarks on camera. Rowe was raised to "live with what you got."

"I got ticked," Rowe said when he realized he was tricked. "But I was ticked at myself."

Yet Rowe does not regret the words that brought him unwitting stardom. He could apologize, but at this point, he wonders, who would believe him?

"Borat" was one of last year's top grossers -- earning $125 million and counting, according to boxofficemojo.com. The movie is up for a Golden Globe for best film, while Cohen is nominated for best actor. By year's end, "Borat" landed on several critics' top 10 lists.

The high grosses and harsh words are reasons Rowe has been sought out for interviews by Newsweek, FHM men's magazine, and TV and print journalists from Los Angeles, New York and London. He was supposed to be featured on last week's edition of "20/20," but got bumped by coverage of Saddam Hussein's execution.

"Saddam's last violent act," Rowe called getting knocked off the schedule.

It was not until he was interviewed by "20/20" three weeks ago that Rowe saw his part in the film. When the movie opened, Rowe noticed "Borat" was on the marquee as he left his home in Dickson, Tenn., for a rodeo in Florida. But it wasn't playing by the time he returned.

Yet he admits he might rent "Borat" when it comes to DVD.

"I want to see what the rest of those poor suckers got into," he laughed.

Recite a few lines from the movie, and Rowe laughs. But Rowe would not call Cohen a true comedian like Bob Hope or Red Skelton.

"He's just a son of a buck who's got a lot of guts," Rowe said.

To make amends at this year's rodeo, Rowe invited the ambassador to Kazakhstan to speak to the crowd in Salem. Everything was set, he said, but the idea was canceled because of concerns about security.

Instead, the rodeo will begin as is always done, with the national anthem -- this time on tape.

And while there were rumored reports Cohen would be burned in effigy, well, that's one idea Rowe said he wished he had thought of first.

"That's a heck of a good idea," he said. "Burning 'em in effigy would have been great."