Another Borat lawsuit

So what exactly did the folks from Sacha Barron Cohen's production company tell those people who appeared in the movie and came off looking racist, alcoholic or just plain dumb? If you read the lawsuit recently filed against Cohen and 20th Century Fox, the Borat film was supposed to be a documentary for Belarus Television. Plaintiff Cindy Streit (she's the one who operated an Alabama etiquette training business) asked one of the producers whether Belarus Television was similar to Alabama Public Television and he replied that it was very similar. Streit then arranged a dinner party, and at that point you might recall things got really weird. Streit apparently signed all kinds of waivers to appear in the film, as did the others, but they obviously had no idea of what Cohen had in mind. Not to beat a dead horse - the movie is already on cable - but here's a snippet of Streit's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama:

24. Schulman represented that he was assisting Springland [Films] in filming an educational documentary for Belarus Television about a foreign dignitary's tour of the United States. Schulman stated that the dignitary needed etiquette and dining skills training and inquired whether Streit and ETS could provide such services. Schulman also explained that this portion of the documentary was designed to portray a Southern, in-home style dining experience and requested that Streit arrange for such a dinner.

Well, you probably know what happened next.

34. During the dinner, Cohen referred to Plaintiff Michael Jared as "retarded" and then complimented the other guests on their willingness to let "retarded" persons dine with them.

35. He asked the dinner guests whether they owned slaves.

36. He made several derogatory and (sic) sexists remarks to the women who were present.

37. At one point, Cohen excused himself to the bathroom only to come back to the dinner table holding a plastic bag purportedly containing his own feces...

The entire suit is available on The Smoking Gun. Several other suits have been filed by folks who appeared in the movie and claim they had been duped by the producers. In most cases, they appear to have signed their lives away, which means the courts aren’t getting involved. It’s funny, but slimy.