Posted on 11/21/2006 3:14:09 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
Although Sacha Baron Cohen's new blockbuster comedy, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, has received laughs from its American audiences, not everyone found the movie so funny--especially many of the film's actors. From humiliated University of South Carolina fraternity brothers to destitute citizens of a remote Romanian village, Cohen has made enemies across the globe. In fact, a few of the disgruntled people who appear in his film are now lining up to take legal action against Twentieth Century Fox, the studio releasing Cohen's movie.
At issue is the damage caused to the lives of unwitting participants in the film and even to groups of people stereotyped in the movie. Most of those who appear in Borat are not professional actors reading scripted lines. Rather, many allege they were told they were participating in a documentary and were encouraged to interact with a foreign "journalist." In reality, the journalist was Cohen portraying Borat, a peculiar and antagonistic Central Asian man, unaccustomed to American courtesies and customs. The situations Borat created often led to comedic and sometimes embarrassing results.
Fraternity Brothers Taking a Sober Stance
At one point in the film, three fraternity brothers from the University of South Carolina pick up a hitchhiking Borat. During the sequence, two of the young men, while apparently inebriated, make misogynistic and anti-semitic remarks. Soon after the film's opening, the young men took legal action, seeking to enjoin Cohen and his distributor Twentieth Century Fox from showing the movie.
In their complaint, the two men allege that the movie has caused them emotional distress along with injuring their reputation and standing in the community. Since the release of the film, both individuals have lost their jobs – one at a large corporation and the other an internship. According to the men, immediately prior to filming Cohen's film crew took them to a bar and encouraged them to drink. Once heavily intoxicated, the boys were asked to sign a release form.
In other words, the two men allege they did not have the legal capacity to contract. Under contract law, to be legally bound to a contract you sign, you must have the mental capacity to enter into that agreement. Any level of intoxication obviates the signor's clarity of thought and judgment and invalidates the contract.
The two men also allege that the production staff misrepresented the nature of the film and where it would be distributed. Put simply, the young men claim that they were told the "documentary" they were participating in would never air in the U.S. To make a claim of misrepresentation, one would have to demonstrate that they were intentionally told a statement that was blatantly false, with the intent to deceive them. They would also have had to prove that they somehow relied on the false statement and that they had suffered measurable damage as a result.
Thus, their attorneys will have to demonstrate that this statement was actually made, that the young men believed it, that it was false when it was told to them, and that it was said so as to purposefully deceive them into believing it would never air in the U.S. The fraternity brothers and their legal team will have to show that they would not normally behave in this manner, and that their employment termination, caused by their appearance in the film, constitutes a loss of money and income.
Fake Kazakh Journalist Might Face Real Rumanian Lawsuit
Borat's detractors are not only in the U.S. The villagers of Glod, Romania may also sue the movie's producers. Glod was the small village used as a stand-in for Borat's tiny village in Kazakhstan. The leaders of the town allege that the uneducated villagers were induced to perform crass acts unaware of their meaning or that their images would be used for a film. According to a spokesperson, the villagers believed the filmmakers were merely shooting a documentary. In addition, the villagers are alleging that the filmmakers did not pay them adequately for the humiliation they suffered or for the use of their village.
Alternatives To Legal Action
Redress comes in many forms, and some of Baron Cohen's "victims" have sought alternatives to traditional legal action to resolve their concerns.
After unwittingly booking Borat for her live news show, TV News Producer Dharma Arthur left her job at a local Jackson, Mississippi news station. Borat wreaked havoc on air, urgently telling the host and the viewers about his need to urinate and then proceeding to mention other sex acts.
Arthur claims Borat's appearance caused the station to lose faith in her abilities as a producer and forced her out. However, following a bought with depression over her major career mishap, Arthur found vindication and an opportunity to ameliorate the damage to her news career by documenting her negative experience in Newsweek magazine.
Sovereign nations might find it difficult to sue for slander, so the fictitious Borat's factual homeland, Kazakhstan, has taken a public relations approach to combating the negative depiction of their country. Kazakhstan's leaders have spoken out against the character of Borat and his film.
Starting in 2004, the press secretary for the Kazakh embassy launched a campaign to dispel each and every untruth spoken by Borat. In addition, Kazakh press secretary Roman Vassilenko reached out to The New Yorker and the Washington insider's weekly, The Hill in an effort to combat the negative stereotypes potentially created by Cohen's character. In addition, Kazakhstan's deputy foreign minister, Rakhat Aliyev has even gone so far as to extend a public invitation to Cohen to visit the large Central Asian country.
Even if legal action and publicity campaigns do not succeed in stopping Baron Cohen, at least one of his detractors has sent a strong message. After having appeared on Saturday Night Live as Borat, Baron Cohen, still in costume, went to a local bar and play a prank on an unsuspecting New Yorker. According to the report, Baron Cohen asked the man for his clothes so that he could perform a sexual act upon them. The man, un-amused, took great umbrage and attacked Baron Cohen.
There is no word yet if Cohen is seeking a legal remedy.
The article above represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and does not represent in any way the official position of LegalZoom.com Inc.
Where does Borat's "trustworthiness" come into this? He did not force the frat boys to act like idiots. They did that on their own and are now crying mea culpa after realizing they looked like absolute idiots.
Thanks, for the info. I was unaware of that clause. Makes total sense now.
I do believe that a person under the influence will say and act differently than if sober.
If anyone here can say that they have never felt anger toward another where an unacceptable harsh word could be said, raise you hand. Most of us KNOW it is socially unacceptable in your desired composite of who you are and who you want to be and do so repent that we so have those hateful feelings , even only if for a brief moment.
We keep check on these feelings, but if under the effects of a substance that alters our reasonable thinking, placed in an environment to incite a certain response; as in a feeding frenzy, I can see where socially unaccepted HIT words might surface. It was the intent of the director to push to the forefront a certain response with the aid of some intoxicant. We do not know the conversations beforehand that led to these responses. We also know young suicide bombers were often kept drunk or drugged for days to achieve a desired effect of mass murder.
In this case, I just wonder why it is always the N word or another ethnic slur that takes priority over ANY other unkind word that is meant to show Hate. The injured feelings of the recipient that result from the use of any hate word is the same.
One word is just more newsworthy than the others, but all achieving the same Punch effect.
What law school did this guy flunk out of?
That assertion is patently false.
No problem. I worked in the entertainment industry for many years....thats how I know about all these little tidbits. ;)
It's a good thing Mel Gibson didn't pick him up.
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