TMZ.com has this exclusive:
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 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.
The suit asks for unspecified damages.
Read more here. Read the complaint here. This is the Summary of Action:
1. Sasha Baron Cohen is a prankster. Him M.O. consists of creating likeable yet outrageous characters and then unleashing these characters into selected individuals for public viewing. The funny part is when we, the audience, see how these individuals react to him.
2. Until recently, his musings could be found on "Da Ali G Show," which only aired on HBO and which received moderate success. What is most impressive about Mr. Cohen is his uncanny ability to fool interviewees into his traps - including a Presidential candidate and Congressmen from both sides of the isles (who have staff whose job it is to screen such pranks). In other words, Mr. Cohen and his staff lie really well.
3. One of the characters made famous on Ali G is Borat, a Kazak news reporter. Borat, it seems, has overgrown his pint size format and has become a full length picture - Borat: Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (the "Film"). The format of the film is no different than what is described above. People are tricked in making fools out of themselves. The film has been described in many colorful ways. Some call it hilarious and some call it offensive. Where one falls on that line depends largely on one's tolerance for incest and penis jokes.
4. Needless to say, the movie is doing very well domestically. The Film was originally released in 837 theatres nationwide on November 3, 2006 and is set to expand to 2,400 theatres on November 10, 2006. See a true and correct copy of a November 7, 2006 Daily Variety news article confirming this information included herewith as "Exhibit 2." It is the only movie ever to gross over $26 million while playing at less than 1000 locations. The problem, however, is that its success rests on the backs of unsuspecting players. This lawsuit seeks to remedy that.
The causes of action are fraud, rescission of contract, common law false light, statutory false light, appropriation of likeness and negligent inflicftion of emotional distress.
