Much like the giant inflatable Borat that appeared on the Toronto waterfront late last month, the poster advertisements for the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm are bold and hard to ignore, depicting a nearly-naked Sacha Baron Cohen wearing only a medical mask — a nod to this year — to cover his crotch.

"Wear Mask, Save Live," the ads read, serving to promote the film while also encouraging fans to abide by the advice of health officials around the world and don a face covering while out in public.

But though they seem hilarious to some (and perhaps a bit distasteful to others), the signs have apparently enraged a particular segment of the Toronto population: anti-maskers.

So there’s a dude near my Leslieville office who keeps defacing the Borat poster nearby with COVID conspiracy graffiti. Second photo was last week. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/VliSppOGAq

— Adam Riggio (@adamriggio) October 30, 2020

Presumably because of Borat's pro-mask message, anti-maskers in the city have been defacing the ads, spraypainting things like "it's all lies," "it's fake," and "don't muzzle me" and drawing over Cohen's face.

It's happened to more than one of the posters that have popped up around Toronto in recent weeks, including the one at the corner of Queen St. E and Pape Ave., and one at Gerrard St. E and Logan Ave., which was apparently completely blacked out at one point, according to a thread on the topic in a Leslieville community Facebook group.

According to social media posts, some of the displays have been replaced, but keep getting vandalized.

There are people in Toronto tagging those Borat posters that it’s a hoax, “don’t muzzle me” etc. It’s in our own backyard.

— Kaitlin Monkman (@kaitmonkman) November 1, 2020

Between stunts like this and the many unignorable anti-lockdown protests that have pervaded the city's streets, it's obvious that the anti-mask sentiment is alive and well in the city — and that tensions are continuing to rise as strict pandmic measures remain in place, businesses flounder and COVID case numbers rise.