Thursday, November 09, 2006

If I Not Be Winning Suit at Law, I Be Execute


Elections, confirmations, war - all heady and crucial topics we must discuss, solve, and fight for.

But it's time to get back to our roots of our organization, use the knowledge and skills we've acquired in law school to address one of the most important legal questions of our time:

Are frat boys lame for suing Borat?

"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.

***

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 and the group watches the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape while inebriated.

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.
While I can't imagine suffering "mental anguish" over being the coolest kid in school because I got to drink with Borat and be in a smash hit movie, I can imagine being irritated if I made a boob of myself relying on it only being seen overseas. Now I'm can't wait to see what they did that they would suffer "loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community..."

The complaint itself is really funny - the kind any lawyer would love to write.

This isn't his first run in with the law, either - a German group is suing him for human rights violations because the character refers to being a "Gypsy Catcher." Give those guys a peace prize for going after the real human rights abusers....

One thing's for sure. All of this legal trouble and the publicity that goes with it? We haven't seen the last of that sweet 'stache...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When the lawsuit gets settled, I'm not sure the resulting payment will be to redress actual tort damages, or as the boys fee for contributing in their own way to the marketing of Borat.

Either way, I'm not sure they'd be considered the "coolest kids" in America after their weird comments; they'd have been better off claiming that it was scripted and they were just playing the part...

Orrin Johnson said...

I still haven't seen it - I assumed it was run of the mill drunk frat guy stuff. But the more I hear, the more (a) I understand why they're suing, and (b) the more urgently I feel the need to see the movie.