DOCUMENT: Celebrity

"Borat" Dinner Party Lawsuit

Alabamans claim foul over 'racially intolerant' depiction in movie

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"Borat" Dinner Party Lawsuit

OCTOBER 23--Five more unwitting stars of 'Borat' have filed a federal lawsuit against the hit comedy's creators, claiming that they were duped into appearing in what they thought was an 'educational documentary for Belarus Television.'

In the movie, the quintet is seen dining with comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in an Alabama home in October 2005. During the meal, Cohen, in his guise as the clueless Borat, refers to one man as a 'retard,' wonders whether his hosts own slaves, and, following a bathroom trip, returns to the dinner table with a plastic bag containing what appears to be feces.

According to a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Cohen and his codefendants sought to portray the Alabamans as 'racially intolerant' and distributed a film 'memorializing the mockery, humiliation, and degradation of unsuspecting participants.'

The plaintiffs charge that Cohen's film, which has grossed hundreds of million of dollars, caused them emotional distress, placed them in a false light, and resulted in an invasion of privacy. The lawsuit, which does not specify monetary damages, seeks an injunction barring further use of the embarrassing 'dinner scene' from 'Borat.' (10 pages)