Celebrity Justice
Borat Lawsuit -- High Five!!!

How's this for the beginning of a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles County Superior Court? -- "Sacha Baron Cohen is a prankster."Click to view documents

Two anonymous plaintiffs are suing 20th Century Fox and One America Productions, claiming members of their college fraternity were interviewed to become part of the smash "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" film.

The plaintiffs -- listed as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 -- were allegedly assured the film would not be shown in the U.S. and their identities would not be revealed.

They were both selected to appear in the movie and, according to the suit, taken "to a drinking establishment 'to loosen up' and provided alcoholic beverages." They claim they signed the movie releases after "heavy drinking."

The suit claims both men were then taken to a motor home where they were filmed, all the while "encouraged to continue drinking."

The movie features a scene in a motor home where Cohen gets drunk with three frat boys who go on a racist rant about how they wished they had slaves and how minorities in the United States "have all the power."

According to the lawsuit, the frat boys only received $200 for the controversial appearance.

The plaintiffs claim they suffered "humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional and physical distress, loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community..." because the movie was indeed released in the U.S.

The suit asks for unspecified damages.

Calls to 20th Century Fox were not immediately returned.



Tags: Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen, SachaBaronCohen

Reader Comments

(Page 9 of 16) Previous 15 Comments | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

121. Did you just say the "south raises its ugly head?" These guys are from LA. Looks like North Eastern biggotry just got caught raising its ugly head.

Posted at 1:55PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Sekmet

122. First: you dont call a Fraternity a Frat; you
wouldn't call a Country a C**t would you? Second Fraternity men have
done great things in this world. You constantly hear about mistakes
Fraternities make, not the good they do. Here are some statistics
take from the North-American Interfraternity Conference
website:Greeks areLargest and Most Visible Values-Based Organizations
on CampusMost Successful Leadership Development Program for College
StudentsLargest Network of Volunteers in the US10 Million hours of
volunteer service annuallyLargest Not-for-Profit Student LandlordOwn
and Manage $3 Billion in student housingHouse 250,000 students in
8,000 facilities48% of all US presidents have been Greek42% of US
Senators are Greek30% of US Congressmen/women are Greek40% of all US
Supreme Court Justices have been Greek30% of Fortune 500 Executives
are Greek10% of all listed in Who's Who are Greek... Greeks make up
only 3% of US populationSo before you go and bash Fraternities for
these three idiots understand a little more about the people you are
associating with them.Signed: a Fraternity Man

Posted at 2:00PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Zone

123. Zone, I think you need to calm down before your head explodes.

I think most guys when they are in college are total asses. These 2 are no exception. Why do you think that no one ever says "college men"? Its because they will always be termed: College Boys, for a reason

1st of all, Frat is a commonly wide accepted nickname for a fraternity-Why is it all the sudden so sensitive?
2nd-all these high and noble Congress members and Supreme Court Justices you speak of-may belong to a greek honor society as well. You can get those with a high grade point average, it doesnt mean you are belong to a fraternity or sorority.. I belong to Alpha Mu Alpha, given to marketing grads with a high GPA but that doesnt make me a sorority girl-I assure you I was NOT.

Like I said, there are a lot of good members but then there are a lot of not so nice members. One of my friends who was a member of Sigma Chi, had to drink goat blood for initiation.

how can you deny any illegal activity that goes on at Frat houses?

These boys deserve to lose this lawsuit... All it took for them to become total pigs was some beer. they were the epitomy and poster boys for drunken college boys in America.

Now they wanna sue as if they were Rape victims. Yeah right. I think its kind of a funny twist considering the amount of girls at my college that got doped up at frat parties

A Lesson to these boys:

"They didnt Say no!"

Posted at 3:08PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Arctic Kat

124. These guys are fools. The movie was being promoted for the last 2 months; and they are just now saying something about being shown in the film?!
I guess this is the NEW American way to make money.

Posted at 3:32PM on Nov 10th 2006 by FDodger fan

125. #106 NEW? Honey, suing people has been the American Way since the 1970's. Americans are a lazy bunch of bloodsuckers and would rather ruin Wendy's with someone's missing finger than work a f**king job. These guys are no different. They see cars and naked women without working for it in their future.

Posted at 3:41PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Tari

126. #107 Why? The makers of Borat cannot go back and give more money to EVERYONE who had a hand in making the movie. At the time, they agreed to be a part of something that was being created. No one new if it would be released, or even be a success. If they give more $ to the boys, they have to do it for all of the participants. Can't be done Sugar. That's why they sign waivers before they get inserted into the fim or hit the cutting room floor.

Posted at 3:49PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Tari

127. It doesn't matter anyway, the lawsuit will not hold because in Contractual law, you have to be so drunkenly incapacitated that you have no idea what you are doing when you sign a contract. The fact that they claim that cohen lied to them about the content of the contract (it would not be released in the US) proves that they were coherent enough to be bound by the contract. And you know Sacha Baron Cohen has damn good lawyers. So they are basically suckers, who deserve everything that is coming to them, frat or no frat.

Posted at 4:01PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Jeff

128. #26, though all comments against ignorant fools are highly appreciated, generalizing them as being ignorant fools just because they are from the South, is not. Not everyone in the South is ignorant, racist, sexist, etc. Many are incredibly liberal and do not condone those view points. Congratulations, you have successfully fallen into the "ignorant fool" category for making such a generalized statement.

Posted at 5:43PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Ashley

129. I usually don't go for the jackass type movies and I thought this was one of those. I was wrong. I have to admit, when I didn't have my eyes closed, I was laughing. I'm sure the nude wrestling was very funny by the amount of laughter I was hearing. But for some reason I just couldn't watch. I also agree this was a statement to Americans about what goes on in some states to this day. Some of us Americans are still racist and that’s very disheartening. I mean come on, who would want to live on "Secession Drive"?

Posted at 4:31PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Cleo

130. What a drag that alcohol once again allows the innermost feelings, no matter how disgusting, to come out. You know, the stuff we don't normally have the BALLS to say. : )

Those poor loser, racist a**holes.

Posted at 5:21PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Dick Douglas

131. You think Borat's offensive?! At least he was trying to be funny and comedic. These frat boys don't have an excuse or a punchline for the vicious racist and sexist things they had to say. They are just pissed because their friends and family know the truth now, and whose fault is that? The filmmakers used what the frat boys themselves SUPPLIED them with. I'm glad those losers are being laughed at by the majority of the country (and world).

Posted at 6:01PM on Nov 10th 2006 by Zoe

132. I hate frat houses, frat boys and frat parties....I hope for some reason it backfires on them...Hail Borat

Posted at 4:01PM on Nov 11th 2006 by Curtis

133. First off, I am in a Fraternity and it IS NOT A FRAT! You call it a Fraternity, you dont call your country a c**t, do you? Also I totally feel bad and not bad for those guys, they allowed themselves to get all drunk and retarded. But they were targeted for this because of a stereotype about how fraternity guys only get drunk and do stupid stuff, which is totally incorrect.

Posted at 12:05PM on Nov 11th 2006 by Klcotner

134. Are not having a leg to stand on and being lame the same thing?

Posted at 10:10AM on Nov 19th 2006 by John

135. These same frat boys would poo-poo any girl who lifts her top for "Girls Gone Wild," and then has second thoughts.

Hypocrites.

Posted at 10:19PM on Nov 10th 2006 by JoeF

Previous 15 Comments | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments