Borat Lawsuit -- High Five!!!

151. Agreed. Sasha Cohen is a satirical genius - all he does is open your eyes to the incredible bigotry and hate in America, the country that prides itself on being so PC. The fact that he can exploit these bigots so easily is a testament to their own stupidity.

To # 137: they were misrepresented? Honey, editing can only go so far. They either did or did not say those hateful words, and clearly the proof is there. It doesn't matter how "gentlemanly" you think they are, we all have false fronts we put up to the world but you can't hide it while drunk. I suspect that had you been black, you wouldn't have been so eager to defend their words..

Posted at 4:43AM on Nov 13th 2006 by Toasty

152. They may be in the right according to contract law, but I don't think that's why these guys are suing. They said things under the assumption that no one they knew would ever see the film, how does that make it okay to say horrible things? Alcohol doesn't make people racist womanizers, it just makes people who happen to be racist womanizers less afraid to admit it. Whether it's violation of a contract or not, I hope they don't get a dime.

Posted at 3:03PM on Nov 13th 2006 by julie

153. First off, I was in a fraternity while at my undergraduate institution and those of you making statements about how fraternity parties are breeding grounds for underage drinking, date rape, etc...should get your facts straight and learn lessons about not making blanket statements. My fraternity and others on my campus that were recognized and not "underground" were actually held in high esteem. The greek community at my school (which comprised of maybe 10% of the school's population) did more community service (voluntary, not sanctioned by the school) and were involved in more activities than the rest of the population of the school. The greek community also boasted some of the highest GPA's on campus. As for the hazing, I can assure you not every fraternity hazes, in fact my national chapter was founded against hazing.

That being said, lets discuss this case. If the claims in this law suit are in fact true, I feel that these men have a valid claim. I do not approve of thier comments, however, if they were coerced to sign a document that they would have given more attention to if not under the influence of alcohol, they have grounds for a suit. Furthermore, if they were blatently lied to about where the film would be shown, that is even more of a reason.

Again, I want to stress that I DO NOT SUPPORT thier comments one bit, however, if they were lied to in order to be filmed, that is a problem. If they were told the circumstances of what the footage would be used for and were not drunk at the time, they probably would never have agreed to it.

I like Borat, I like Cohen's comedy, however these tactics (if real) are unacceptable.

Posted at 1:12PM on Nov 13th 2006 by Randal

154. Personally I found the movie extremely funny, and had I been in their situation I would have laughed it off and gotten over it. It's not that big of a deal and I don't think anyone else thought it was either. If they are seriously going to go through with a lawsuit they are 100% LAME.

Posted at 5:18PM on Nov 15th 2006 by MB

155. You mean to tell me that a camera crew shows up, gets these two frat boys liquored up. Then tells them to make racist statement and comments that they claim that they would not make, it was a joke. These guys are in college? Someone should get a refund! You don't put comments on film that could come back to bite you in the ass. Guess they saw the camera and free beer and left the brains at the door. These guys are SUPID!

Posted at 11:28PM on Feb 1st 2007 by Rick

156. For those of you defending these racist pricks, you must share their same beliefs and see nothing wrong with them. And as a founding father of a local chapter of a national fraternity, I can say, without a doubt, there are many greek system guys who are loud, brash, obnoxious idiots. Alot of the high GPA's are earned honestly. But, some of them aren't earned but received through the buddy system of old tests being recirculated, or just blatant cheating not to mention the lists of "good" professors that any fraternity worth its letters would have.

Posted at 8:40PM on Nov 13th 2006 by JimmyCrackCorn

157. That is what that bitch sasha and 20th century get!!! There will be so many new suits that will follow because of the shady sh*t they pulled without people knowledge. This is where the movie really fails.

Posted at 1:15AM on Nov 14th 2006 by erick villalobos

158. RE: 34.”You'll find that Jews have been making fun of (other) people for personal gain for the last 100 years; this is just more of that. Look at the Cohen brother’s movies, Fargo, Raising Arizona, etc; everyone else is an idiot except of course the Jew.”
Nov 9th 2006 by Jo Neumann

Hey, Jo Neumann AKA Mel Gibson.
It’s obvious to everyone reading the board that you haven’t even seen the film. If you had, I’m hoping you would have realized that Jews are targeted in the majority of jokes and scenes in the movie.
Take your foot out of your mouth so you can eat a big slice of crow pie, Mel.
What path of ignorance and idiocy led you to convince yourself that you are “qualified” to discuss something you know nothing about?

Posted at 8:47PM on Nov 13th 2006 by Borat

159. If they win the suit at least they can get what they really want, buy slaves and have power over all the minorities.

What a bunch of morons.

Posted at 1:08AM on Nov 14th 2006 by Lara

160. I don't see anything funny about this over acted, over stereo typed Sacha Baron Cohen whose basic act is making fun of mentally retarded people. How could anyone pay money to see anything made by this guy? I think human rights groups, the mentally handicapped and the ACLU should go after him. I'd rather watch light bulbs burn out or count the pixels on a monitor than see or hear him. Wish I could see video of the guy punching him in the face. That's the least everyone should get for having to put up with his promos on TV. With his non-talent and obnoxiousness, he'd make a good poster for birth control. UGH! Gross! Won't be getting any of my money. Another piece of proof that it only takes connections to get promoted.

Posted at 1:29AM on Nov 14th 2006 by mikeP

161. The flaws of this country SHOULD be pointed out. People as stupid as that retarded Texas republican and those horrible immature frat boys have every right to be pointed out and laughed out. How else are they going to realize the error of their ways? This is a good thing for them. The jerks knew they did something wrong- what they said, how they acted- and so they're going to sue someone because the alcohol brought out the worst in them? Alcohol or no alcohol, those sentiments exist and whether or not they were manipulated into showing it- which I'm sure they've done before anyway- they should be ashamed. The fact that they are trying to sue even goes further to show that they knowingly have these horrible sentiments and think that there's something wrong with THOSE being exposed?? They think it was wrong of Borat to expose that, but there's nothing wrong with making those horrific remarks about women and minorities? Let's see... I wonder what could possibly be the bigger crime. Idiots exposed for who they are, or growing up in America and still being so stupid as to believe all that garbage they said about women and minorities. I'm going to say the latter. Those dickheads deserve that horrible publicity.

Posted at 12:42PM on Nov 14th 2006 by Jessica

162. And please might I add that NONE of this publicity for the idiots has anything to do with knowing or not knowing what a fraternity is about. The fraternity didn't necessarily bring about these terrible misunderstandings the boys had- the society and culture in which they grew up in did. And by society, I am not covering all of 'American' society- I am using it to cover their daily environment i.e. school, family, friends, area of town, etc. These vary from all over the country, and are not specific or general to the country in its entirety. I am in a sorority, and I know what brotherhood/sisterhood/greek life is about, and it is in no way relevant (necessarily, anyway) to this horrific behavior. If you're going to make an argument, make it specific to the people, not their college or fraternity. Seeing as how we do not know the background of the rest of the greek organization, these sentiments may only be native to these losers. And it was only two of the three, the one seemed to stay neutral on that topic.

Posted at 12:42PM on Nov 14th 2006 by Jessica

163. When I was in college (Penn State), a couple frats tried to get my friends and I to join. There were a few places where we had friends where we'd go regularly for parties--most of the time I preferred apartment parties by you sort of learned that different fraternities were different.

Triangle, the engineer's frat, always had good beer and live music. The business frat had hard liquor only and lots of it. Another frat we went to regularly always had a good dj who happened to be a friend of mine and so we would go there. Another one we went to occasionally for a while had guys who were alright, most of them kind of lame individually, but nice enough, and they liked to drink good beer. Still, much like most frathouses--or any house populated solely by guys--the place was filthy, and had been for several decades. At least with apartments, the security deposit required them to be cleaned out top-to-bottom once a year.

Most of the frats seemed lame--or at least not my thing. For most of them, it wasn't that all frat guys were the same or evil, but that they were still kind of homogenous and boring. It was like a lot of college--like a fake version of real life--and once you realize that, it sort of loses its appeal.

That said, there were always a few guys in a frat who were offensive a**holes, and a few frats that were full of them. We never went there if we could help it. For my friends and I, being white and generally rolling in equal numbers male and female, we could get into pretty much any of these parties and as long as we kept our eyes on each other, everything would be alright, but in a house that size, you still worry a little bit.

Even in a "good frat", there may be a lot of brothers, 30 of whom are good guys, 5 of whom are questionable and 2 of whom are downright creepy. The problem is probably that because they're all around other generally white males all the time, the good ones let their manners and behavior and, yes, personal hygiene slide a little bit, and the really bad ones mutate into dangerous predators.

It's easy when you're not around the people you're insulting to get in the habit of it. In high school I would regularly say "that's so gay" and it wasn't until I had friends whose feelings were hurt by that that I realized it's just unnecessary. Ideally, part of college, and adulthood, is confronting the parts of society you didn't grow up around, so you can face your prejudices and misconceptions, and realize how ignorant some of the people you grew up with are and how personally important it is for some people that you think for yourself and question your stereotypes.

So it's not that fraternities are evil or that all brothers are ignorant. They may not be places where drug abuse or rape occurs more often. But frats are places where ignorance goes unchallenged, where bad ideas go out of proportion and where there's a strong incentive to cover for each other when someone does something wrong.

Some people don't like Sacha Baron Cohen because he makes Americans look like idiots. Some don't like him simply because he's Jewish (and they're idiots, apparently). Some people don't like him because he misleads people into going on film.

News flash: some Americans ARE idiots. Covering that up doesn't make it less true. Maybe if people were publicly humiliated more often for holding ridiculous and harmful beliefs, they'd be a little more critical and introspective. People in every country are racist, but that's besides the point. If someone called you an a**hole, would your response be, "yeah, so, that guy over there, he's an a**hole too"? Maybe it would, but I'd rather say "maybe i am but i'm working on it. Can you say the same for yourself?"

Whether Cohen misled them or not misses the point. The more important thing is that they realize finally that thinking women should be slaves should make them unmarriageable. Certainly now I can entreat my friends and family to keep their distance.

Posted at 12:43PM on Nov 14th 2006 by Jason

164. Boo freakin hoo. If you are so amazingly stupid not to realize when you are being duped then take your 200 and spend it on tutoring.
The frat boys are exhibit A on why the US system of higher ed is considered so piss weak.

Posted at 9:52PM on Dec 2nd 2006 by Mr. Spiffy

165. 68. James Taylor: "Considering the poor grammar and spelling, I doubt that many of the posters here ever attended college. " Hey, smarty pants? Hearsay is one word. Pot meet kettle.

LOL James Taylor. He probably got accepted because daddy paid or went to the same college. Legacy kids. Yeah you don't have to know shi* either.

Sascha at least showed the true color of these **cks!

Posted at 2:26PM on Nov 14th 2006 by boiboi