Humiliated frat boys sue 'Borat'

murfie

I had a suspicion that a lot if not all the Borat movie was staged but i guess they at least kept it semi real life. These guys were hilarious though, I watch the movie here in the US and it was just cringing all around me when these guys came on. Wonder will anything come from this lawsuit, doubt it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061110/ap_en_mo/film_borat_lawsuit

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Two fraternity boys want to make lawsuit against "Borat" over their drunken appearance in the hit movie.


The legal action filed Thursday on their behalf claims they were duped into appearing in the spoof documentary "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," in which they made racist and sexist comments on camera.

The young men "engaged in behavior that they otherwise would not have engaged in," the lawsuit says.

"Borat" follows the adventures of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's Kazakh journalist character in a blend of fiction and improvised comic encounters as he travels across the United States and mocks Americans.

The plaintiffs were not named in the lawsuit "to protect themselves from any additional and unnecessary embarrassment." They were identified in the movie as fraternity members from a South Carolina university, and appeared drunk as they made insulting comments about women and minorities to Cohen's character.

The lawsuit claims that in October 2005, a production crew took the students to a bar to drink and "loosen up" before participating in what they were told would be a documentary to be shown outside of the United States.

"They were induced to agree to participate and were told the name of the fraternity and the name of their school wouldn't be used," said the plaintiffs' attorney, Olivier Taillieu. "They were put into an RV and were made to believe they were picking up Borat the hitchhiker."

After a bout of heavy drinking, the plaintiffs signed a release form they were told "had something to do with reliability issues with being in the RV," Taillieu said.

The film "made plaintiffs the object of ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress, loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community," the lawsuit said.

It names 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp., and three production companies as defendants.

Studio spokesman Gregg Brilliant said the lawsuit "has no merit."

The plaintiffs were seeking an injunction to stop the studio from displaying their image and likeness, along with unspecified monetary damages.

"Borat" debuted as the top movie last weekend with $26.5 million.

faceman

Should be posted to films tbh

senordingdong

Funny stuff.
I wonder how I'd react in their situation.

Endurance Man

This sounds like bull****, dumass kids trying to get a piece of his bank account.

biko

They're only angry because there wasn't a warning label on Borat

Boohoo

Crucifix

Don't you have to agree for them to use the footage, like with Candid camera stuff?

Creamy Goodness

wow i actually tought that if any of the film was staged that this was the most staged part(i also thought it was the worst part of the movie they annoyed the hell out of me).

the producers of the film must of gotten their permission for them to be in the film as no one could be that stupid in letting it into the film without their permission.

senordingdong

Oh yeah...they defo would have gotten permission to show their faces and what not...but the 'frat boys' are saying they were lied to from the begining...which may be true in some way or another.

TerrorFirmer

Crucifix wrote:

Don't you have to agree for them to use the footage, like with Candid camera stuff?

It says they signed a release form when they were drunk under some pretext.

Binomate

That's bollox. You make racist comments on camera and sue the cameraman because he filmed you making a fool of yourself.

pepper

all they are doing is making it look like they acted out of charcter for the clip so no one will think they are racist or sexist:mad:

Ruu_Old

Frat boys making a fool out of themselves, eh nothing new. They were just caught on camera this time and pissed off about it.

Numina

faceman wrote:

Should be posted to films tbh

it's more about the lawsuit than the actual film itself.

Diogenes

Binomate wrote:

That's bollox. You make racist comments on camera and sue the cameraman because he filmed you making a fool of yourself.

Before or just after you are filmed for something to be broadcast you must sign a release form, saying that you allow the film makers to use your image and voice for this recording. It's a standard contract.

However like any contract it can be voided if one party can demostrate they were mentally incapacitied (IE on medication, illegal drugs, or drunk) it's particularly frowned upon if one party piled the other party with alcohol.

Thats first day contract law stuff, and any freshman law student could tell that to his frat house brothers once the film came out, and they decided to sue, seeing they have a case.

However here's the rub. This is Sacha Baron Cohen, and he and his team have been doing this for years, in the US and UK, I sincerely doubt there isn't a single aspect of release form law they don't know backwards and upside down. They embarssed too many people with deeper pockets than this to get side stepped by a half dozen drunken thugs.

I'll lay odds that the release forms were signed far before the frat boys touched a drop of booze, and theres a recording to prove it. Or an attorney. The frat boys will have to prove they were liquored up then made sign it, and it'll be their word aganist a production team who've made a living doing this for half a decade.

You ain't even going to see these guys get pwn'd in court, one meeting with Universal lawyers, and they'll be slinking out of a legal office, with their moms and dads, and mom and dad's attorneys, who just realised how f*cking lucky they were this didn't go to trial, and how f*cking retarded their racist sexists sons are.

Black Swan

The frats (and their lawyers) just want a piece of the action.

zAbbo

"Don't ever let a woman control you, braaa."

Idiots

Sam Vimes

zabbo wrote:

"Don't ever let a woman control you, braaa."

Idiots

in fact he said "don't ever let a woman make you who you are"

anyone know what that means?

Rb

Seems that they either realise what an arse they made of themselves, have suffered a bit of slagging/humiliation and are trying to find excuses to get a way out of it (while getting a piece of the action). Idiots.

Still haven't got to see the film yet, can't wait though!

Dave!

Looking to get a bit of money tbh......

Savman

Fair play to 'em. They just made the film that bit funnier :D:D:D

Hail 2 Da Chimp

I doubt they're gonna be able to prove that the signed the waiver under false pretences though. But those guys are idiots and deserve everything they get!

scojones

Man those guys pissed me off.